Strange New Words
by viola555
Summary: General Jack O'Neill and Lt. Colonel Shepherd are struck down with the same mysterious illness.  SG-1 characters but locale is on Atlantis.
1. Chapter 1

**_Thanks for the reviews. This is my first time on here so I've done some editing and will attempt to write some more over the weekend. Fanfiction is the thing I needed to get me writing again._**

**Disclaimer: Although I'm an avid fan of SG1 and SGA I may need help with the finite details. I hope I've managed to clean up some details. This story takes place early in season 4 of SGA.**

**Chapter 1 - Strange New Words**

Major General Jack O'Neill cleared his throat and looked out at the impressive and distinguished audience. He gave a sideways glance to his friend, Lt. General George Hammond, played with his one note card and began. After nervously tapping the microphone and getting the go ahead nod from five star General in charge of the ceremony, Jack began.

"I'd like to thank you all for coming today. We have come together to honor my former Commander and friend, Lt. General George Hammond on his retirement from these United States Air Force. It has been an honor…"

He stopped, wondering why he was finding it hard to catch his breath. He hated giving speeches but stage fright had never been a problem before. Suddenly, pain burst through his head and he felt himself falling to the floor.

Hammond was the first at his side as others rushed in. Jack was near convulsions as he felt Hammond's hand on his wrist and heard shouted commands. The pain was coming in waves as he tried to focus his vision. He was struggling to catch his breath as he felt his tie being loosened and someone putting something soft under his head.

"Jack, can you hear me?"

O'Neill latched onto Hammond's arm as he tried to pull himself up. He was trying to ask if he was having a heart attack. While the other Air Force personnel leaning over the fallen man heard what they thought was gibberish, George Hammond's face grew grim. He couldn't translate the words but had heard enough to recognize the language of Ancients when he heard it.

"Incursis atlantis.

"What's the matter, Ronon? You pooping out on me!" Lt Colonel John Sheppard was on his morning run, with his running partner, Ronon Dex. John had just succeeded in climbing two sets of stairs in the far eastern corridor of the living quarters wing and had lost sight of his workout mate.

"Ronon?" John said once again into his comlink.

"Surprise!" John jerked around to see a non-sweating, barely breathing hard Setedan.

"God, don't do that…you could give this out of shape human a heart attack," John panted.

"Ready to go again." Ronon was smirking good-naturedly at his commanding officer.

"Sure. But let's stay on one level this time."

The two ascended the stairs and were just setting their marks, when John felt the first wave of pain.

Ronan looked at him. "Are you okay?" Ronan looked at his friend and commander taking in the pallor of John's skin.

Sheppard tried to answer but the next wave of pain doubled him over and Ronan caught him before his head hit the floor.

"Sheppard! What's wrong?" When John couldn't answer, Ronan called for a medical team through the comlink. And then he heard Sheppard mumbling.

"Adventus Atlantis."

#####

Jack awoke to feel someone poking around his midsection. He looked around to identify the culprit. A dark-haired, fairly familiar female doctor was the guilty party.

"Finding anything down there?"

"Not yet, General. At least nothing that shouldn't be there." She turned her stethoscope to his chest and held his wrist. "Glad you are finally awake. I'm Dr. Lam." And then he knew where he was.

"If you're Dr. Lam, then I must be in Colorado, not Washington, D.C.? And if you are, that means I'm at the SGC, which has me so confused because I was just in Washington making a retirement speech for a favorite General of mine." Caroline said nothing as she focused writing on Jack's medical chart.

Jack asked, "Shouldn't I be at a hospital there?"

"For a man who has been nearly comatose for 22 hours, you ask too many questions," she responded, covering him with the sheet and light blanket.

"22 hours?" He tried to sit up but her hand on his shoulder pushed him firmly back on to his pillow.

"How do you feel? Is there much pain? And if so, where?"

Jack sighed. "For a doctor I just met you ask a lot of questions."

She stared at him. Oh, here we go. Another doctor with an 'I'm in command' attitude. Just like Frazier. Minus the bedside manner of the diminutive doctor, Jack suspected.

"I feel like I've been run over by a squadron of rampaging Jaffa," he answered her with his best possible sarcasm. "And, yes there's still pain, and mostly in my head but a little bit everywhere else too."

"Hmm," Lam muttered and placed her stethoscope on his chest.

"Well, almost everywhere. You know that achy kind of pain you get with the flu."

"Yes, I do know that kind of pain. Now get some rest." With that, she tucked the stethoscope back in her pocket, replaced the chart on the end of the bed, and headed back to her office.

He stared at her retreating figure. Definitely not Janet Frasier's bedside manner.

"Hey, you never answered my question about why I'm here!" he called after her.

"Because of your strange vocabulary while unconscious," came a deeper and highly recognizable voice. "We didn't think the local hospital would have an Ancient dictionary on hand."

General Landry came to stand beside Jack's bed. Landry offered his hand and Jack took it while trying to figure out if had heard correctly. Landry frowned at the tremor in Jack's hand.

"Ancient?" Jack asked.

"Hey, Jack. Good to see you again except for the circumstances."

Jack grimaced as a fresh wave of pain weaved its way behind his eyelids.

Landry said, "You okay? Should I get Dr. Lam?"

"No, it's okay." Jack held his breath until the pain subsided. Then he asked, "So I've been talking ancient in my sleep? How does that happen?"

"We're not sure," said Hank, pulling up a stool beside O'Neill's bed. "That's why you're here. Don't worry. Dr. Lam is the best, even though I might be biased. And Jackson's working on interpreting your Ancient dialogue."

"Daniel's on it? What dialogue?"

Another wave and Landry excused himself only to be replaced by his daughter who began scrutinizing the machines all around her patient. He closed his eyes and was soon once again, unaware of the world.

######

"Are you sure you heard him right," Colonel Samantha Carter looked at Dr. Rodney McKay.

"Yes, he was speaking Ancient. And I have it recorded, right here. Listen."

He hit a switch on the laptop and Carter immediately recognized Sheppard's voice but not what he was saying. She did however pick up a few words that brought back some very unpleasant memories. She glanced at the bed holding the unconscious Colonel.

Dr. Jennifer Keller was examining Sheppard while keeping a close eye on the machines surrounding his bed, analyzing their beeps and readouts. She turned to Colonel Carter in her frustration.

"I cannot find a medical explanation for what's causing this," Jennifer began. I can give you results of the pain; elevated blood pressure, lowered white cell counts but I haven't found the cause. I need files on what happened with General O'Neill when he was downloaded with the ancient database."

"I hate to admit it, but…" Rodney started and then stopped.

"What," Sam demanded.

"Well, I could use some help on the translation," McKay sighed. Sam stopped herself before she pointed out the rarity of Rodney McKay admitting he needed help with anything. "Sometimes I'm not sure if it's Ancient or just gibberish," Rodney continued. "He really should make some sense or wake up at least."

"I'm awake for god's sake, can you keep it down." They all turned their attention to Sheppard who was indeed, awake.

"You had us worried," Sam said.

"You've been out about 18 hours," said Jennifer, as she bent over him with her stethoscope to his chest. "How's the pain?"

"I'd give it an 8 on my head and a 5 all around," John said.

"Can you describe the pain," Jennifer asked. " Is it sharp, dull…?"

John thought a moment then described the head pain like a knife and the body aches like the time he'd contracted mono in high school.

_"Colonel Carter. You have an incoming transmission from the SGC."_

Sam hit her comlink and said "I'll be right there."

Sam gave John's hand a squeeze and said a 'keep me posted' to Dr. Keller. As Carter left, McKay approached Sheppard's side. Rodney was mumbling over something on his laptop and then suddenly slammed it shut and practically ran out of the infirmary.

"I hate when he does that," said John. Jennifer rolled her eyes then proceeded to check her patient's vital signs. As she compared the present results with those on the chart, Sheppard grimaced in pain. Sheppard felt himself convulse and tried to control it but it was useless. Jennifer called for assistance and that was the last he heard as his world faded to black.

################

"I just wanted you to know that Gen. O'Neill has fallen ill and won't be coming as scheduled." Carter frowned at Landry's image. Her concern was evident as she asked, ""Ill, sir? What's wrong?"

Landry shook his head. "We're not sure. However, his condition warranted his coming here from Washington so Dr. Jackson could help. Sam, he's in a large amount of pain. Dr. Lam doesn't have a clue what it is, at least not yet. Our biggest concern though is that when he's out, he seems to be speaking Ancient. Daniel is working on it now. We won't… ". Landry paused as he saw Sam's reaction to his news. For a moment she couldn't respond. She turned to see Rodney standing over her left shoulder with his mouth hanging open.

"You're kidding," McKay finally said.

"Colonel, what's going on?" Landry asked. "You and McKay look like you're going to be ill?"

Sam quickly explained that Col. Sheppard had fallen ill too with the same symptoms. Landry asked her to wait while he got Dr. Lam. Sam asked Dr. Keller to report to operations.

While Keller and Lam talked, Rodney pulled Sam aside.

"I've got a rough translation, I think. He's saying 'The vanquisher is arriving at Atlantis. We must journey on.'"

Sam's stomach did a flip flop. "So what does that mean?" she asked him.

"I don't know but it doesn't sound good," Rodney replied.

"Col?" Keller called Carter back to the conversation with the SGC. "We think we need to be together on this so, with yours and Gen. Landry's permission, we'd like to have Gen. O'Neill , Dr. Lam and Dr. Jackson come here."

"Is it safe for the General to travel?" Sam directed her question at Dr. Lam.

"I believe so. We'll take every precaution," Caroline assured her.

Sam would be glad to see Daniel and Jack again but not under these circumstances. She couldn't believe how hard her heart was racing. She had been anticipating the General's visit to oversee some new military strategies at the end of the month.

"When can we expect you?" Jennifer asked Caroline.

"Give us an hour."

Jack opened his eyes expecting to see the gray walls of the SGC's infirmary. Instead he saw the bright open spaces of the _Atlantis_ infirmary. Colonel Samantha Carter was dozing in a chair at his bedside.

"Hey," he said. Sam stirred and as her eyes focused she smiled, leaning forward.

"You're awake."

"Yeah," Jack said. To Sam, it looked like he was going to doze off again. Then he said, "I keep waking up in different places. What's up with that?"

Sam's eyes showed both concern and relief. She hadn't been sure what to expect when her former teammate gained consciousness. She was thankful to hear the usual wit and sarcasm. "You got here about 6 hours ago. You don't remember?"

Jack shook his head. "Why the road trip?" he asked. "Not that I'm complaining. I had planned to see you." Sam felt the warmth on her face and hoped the blush wasn't obvious. Seeing her discomfort, Jack added, "See you _all_, I mean _all_ of Atlantis personnel," Jack's voice dropped off.

" Of course." Sam smiled and then motioned over Jack's right shoulder. Jack turned his head and saw John Sheppard asleep in the next bed.

"Col. Sheppard is experiencing the same symptoms as you."

Jack looked back at Sam. "You're kidding?"

Sam shook her head. "No kidding."

Drs. Keller and Lam approached the bed. "You're awake," said Jennifer Keller.

Jack sighed. Another doctor. Another mysterious illness. Another chance to say things he didn't understand. At least the pain wasn't in his knee this time. At least he hadn't had a heart attack. At least he was not the only one causing concern. Not that he'd wish this on anyone.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

Daniel's frustration tolerance level was usually pretty high. After all, an archaeologist thrived on patience. Half the wonder of solving a mystery was the myriad ways of looking at things, like a nearly forgotten language, and suddenly feeling the awe of understanding emerge. This time it was different. He knew the Ancient language. Jack had risked his life twice by having massive amounts of Ancient knowledge downloaded into his brain. Daniel had the advantages that most humans only dreamed of having after ascension, embodying the Ancient known as Myrrdin or King Arthur's Merlin. But frustration was about to beat out his patience. O'Neill and Sheppard were lying helpless in the infirmary and the translation was getting more and more difficult rather than easier.

Daniel turned at the sound of the lab doors opening. Finally, Rodney McKay was making an appearance. It had been two hours since McKay had left, mumbling something about his blood sugar being low. Daniel bit his tongue before he spit his emotions out at Rodney. Instead he asked, "How was lunch?"

"What," said Rodney, seemingly caught off guard by Daniel's presence. Maybe he forgot I was here, thought Daniel.

Rodney's eyes refocused on Jackson. "Oh, it was fine. I grabbed a sandwich but I've been theorizing with Col. Carter about the possibilities of why both General O'Neill and Col. Sheppard are experiencing this anomaly."

"And…," said Daniel.

"The only commonality we can come up with goes back to that moment when Carson unintentionally tried to shoot the two of them down with a drone from the chair back on Earth." Rodney sat down across from Daniel, placing his laptop in front of him. He rubbed his temples.

Daniel sat back, crossing his arms. "But that doesn't make any sense. Why would that incident, taking place almost 4 years ago, have any effect on them now?" he asked. "There is the fact that they both have the ancient gene."

Rodney rolled his eyes. "Yes, of course they do. But then why is this happening only to them and not to others who have the gene?"

Daniel scrunched his face in thought. "Huh." There was an awkward silence. "So, I've gotten bits and pieces of the translation but it's almost as if they're speaking Ancient gibberish."

"Yeah, I know," said Rodney. "You know when humans are in the medical condition that they are, we have a tendency to mumble in gibberish as well, right?"

Daniel nodded in agreement. "So the trick is to get them well but still have them speak in Ancient."

"Or…." McKay was snapping his fingers the way he did when he was processing an idea outloud. "Or, we get them in a deeper state of unconsciousness …"

Daniel jumped up, "What? Are you nuts? We don't want them to put their lives in danger just so we can figure out what they're saying! What if it's all just a false alarm, that this stuff is just a fluke and …"

"You don't believe that anymore than I do!" Rodney shot back. "There has got to be a reason this is happening. We _**have**_ to understand it. I don't want to put their lives in anymore danger than the next guy!"

"So what are you saying?" Daniel snapped.

Rodney took a deep breath. "Look. You and I have a rough translation. It looks like Atlantis is once again in danger. That there is some kind of enemy, new, old, what difference does it make, an enemy is coming. If we somehow use hypnosis or something…"

Daniel spun around and went back to his laptop. He started punching keys and going through different databases. Rodney went to look over his shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Daniel turned to face him. "Anubis captured the Asgard Thor and used an implantation device in Thor's brain and was able to gain access to all the Asgard knowledge."

"Yes, yes, yes!" said Rodney. "And then Anubis captured Jonas Quinn and led him to Jonas' home world of Kelowna. If we put one of those devices in each of…."

Then both scientists looked at each other, realizing what they were saying. Did they have the right to even try what they were thinking?

"Let's go talk to Sam," Daniel finally said. Rodney agreed.

######

"How are they doing? "asked Col. Carter. Dr. Lam looked up from her cup of coffee. She had been sitting in the cafeteria for close to an hour, barely touching her food. She motioned for Carter to join her.

"No change, really," Caroline answered. "There isn't any improvement but no deterioration either." She gazed down at the cold coffee, trying to decide if she wanted more. She looked up again at the touch of Carter's touch on her arm.

"Caroline, you need to get some rest," she said. When Lam didn't respond immediately, Sam added, "I don't want to make that an order."

Caroline smiled. "Thanks, but you're right. It's just that can't stop trying to make the connection. Why O'Neill and Sheppard. What is the one thing that is connecting them? Dr. Keller and I believe that if we can figure that out, maybe, just maybe we can find a cure."

Sam had been thinking the same thing. With all the brilliant brains working on the problem, why couldn't they solve that one nagging question? Was it the gene? Or was there something else at work?

Dr. Lam excused herself, saying she would check in with Jennifer one more time before heading to the guest quarters for a nap. Sam went to get herself a cup of coffee. As she passed the sandwiches, her stomach rumbled. She reluctantly picked up a turkey sandwich, got the coffee and headed back to the table she'd just vacated. After two bites, she pushed the plate away. It was hard to feel hungry with two men she held in high esteem laying in the infirmary, fighting for their lives. She was sipping the hot coffee when Jackson and McKay drew up chairs beside her. It didn't take her long to grasp what they were suggesting despite the rapid fire delivery, and stepping on each others' words.

"No!" Sam nearly knocked over her coffee as she slammed her hand on the table. Both men jumped and stammered to a halt. She glanced at Rodney, and then turned to Daniel who was sitting directly beside her. "Do you know what you're asking?"

Daniel looked at her, knowing how this friend beside him felt about their friend lying in the infirmary. Sam's anger was not just about fellow two officers, but also about a man she cared about as a woman. He and Rodney were suggesting using a technology that had been used against them by a Goa'uld on Thor and Jonas. The pain and violence that had been inflicted upon Earth, Kelowna, and the Asgard home world because of that device would never be forgotten.

"Sam," Rodney cleared his throat. She turned to face McKay. "Sam, by using the device, we should be able to figure out the message they've been trying to get through to us. But we also might be able to find the cure for their current condition." He waited and when she didn't say anything, he added, "You know that Daniel and I wouldn't suggest this if we had any other way or theory about resolving this."

Sam took a deep breath and a sip of her coffee to steady her voice and her nerves. Then she said, "I know that Rodney." She looked back at Daniel, who returned his gaze. "Let's go talk to their doctors."


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm sorry. No deal." Dr. Jennifer Keller sat back in her chair with crossed arms. Her gaze fell on Rodney as if to say "how could you even suggest such a thing."

Dr. Carolyn Lam cleared her throat. She looked accusingly towards Daniel. "I don't think you understand the condition these men are in. Before you called this conference, Colonel Carter, Jennifer and I had concluded that we might need to use drug-induced comas in order to stabilize the General and the Colonel."

The tension in the conference room was thick. Teyla Emmagan and Ronon Dex looked at their Earth friends and wondered who would break the silence. Teyla had wondered why she and Ronon had been invited to the meeting, knowing that the decisions they were facing concerned a medical problem. Much to her dismay, the usually quiet Ronon spoke up.

"May I say something?" he asked.

Colonel Carter nodded.

"It seems to me that these two guys," he pointed at Daniel and Rodney, "are concerned that there is a new threat, while these doctors," pointing to Lam and Keller, "are concerned about the lives of two men. I know I'm just stating the obvious. But is it the message that is causing the medical problem? Because if that's true, then if we can get the message out of them, their health will be restored."

Teyla smiled at Ronon. So did Carter. Sometimes the simplest way of looking at things was the way to solve life's biggest problems. She remembered a little gray friend had felt that way about her and she often had been able to solve a problem based on Jack O'Neill's simple way of seeing things. She was hoping that someday she might have the chance to use his brain that way again.

Ronon continued, "It seems to me getting the message and the language out of them should take priority."

Jennifer was shaking her head. "Yes, but at the same time, we cannot risk their lives any further. By using the Ancient mind device, we could cause major damage to their brains. Not to mention adding more pain to their already compromised systems."

"If you put them into comas, wouldn't that lessen the trauma?" Daniel asked.

Carolyn sighed. "Possibly, but I'm just not willing to risk putting anything in their heads. Not with what they are already going through."

Col. Carter turned to Rodney. "I have to agree with the doctors. Rodney, is there a way to modify the device so it doesn't actually have to be implanted in their brains?"

Rodney whined, "How should I know? I'm not even sure we could get it in anyone's brain and take it out again without damage…"

"Then why are we even talking about this," Jennifer cried. She pointed a finger at Rodney. "You're telling me that you are willing to put those two men's lives at stake just to see if some weird ancient message is another harbinger to this city?"

Teyla placed a calming hand on Jennifer's arm. "Perhaps, there is another way," she offered.

Rodney snapped, "None that I know of. And don't think for one minute that I don't care what happens to those two guys in your infirmary. But are we supposed to just ignore the fact that for some unknown reason, that a once in a lifetime possibility that two men, with the ancient gene, two galaxies apart from each other, collapse in immense pain, muttering a dead language? Huh?"

Jackson mirrored Teyla by placing a hand on Rodney's shoulder. He looked at Sam. "We'll think of something else."

"In the meantime," Carolyn said as she stood up, "we have to get back to our patients." She and Keller left the room, leaving the rest to contemplate the silence.

Suddenly Sam whirled in her chair to face Rodney and Daniel. "What about the Tok'ra memory device?"

Daniel nodded but said, "We thought of that but Jack and John would have to be awake to bring up the particular memories."

"And," added Rodney, "we're not even sure the language would operate like a memory. Hell, we don't even know when it got into their brain unless they've both had their heads sucked by an ancient device lately and didn't happen to mention it to anyone."

"What if you used the technologies together?" asked Sam.

Daniel frowned in thought. "You mean," he said, "somehow combine Anubis' device with the Tok'ra memory simulator?"

"Why not?" she asked. "The Colonel and the General have information in their brains that we need. Somehow if we could hybrid the two devices together to extract just the language without being invasive…"

Rodney cut her off. "How do we do that? Mesh together two alien devices that, by the way, Area 51 still hasn't been able to backwards engineer, and hope they can extract enough of the Ancient language out of General O'Neill's head and Shepherd's head without killing them in the process so we can figure out what the hell we're dealing with?"

Sam and Daniel looked at each other. "It's worth a shot," they both said. Sam touched her comlink. She gave instructions to Harris to dial earth and make a request for Area 51 to send the devices as soon as possible.

"What can we do?" asked Teyla. Carter looked at Teyla and Ronon. She knew they wanted to help but at the moment she didn't know what they could do. What if there was truth in the message that another possible threat was coming to Atlantis? They needed some sort of information gathering.

"Do you know anywhere you might be able to gather intel of activity in the galaxy other than on the Wraith or the Asurans?" she asked them.

Ronon glanced at Teyla. "How about that last planet you and I visited?"

Teyla looked closely at Ronon. "Are you sure you want to go back there?"

Ronon merely grunted. "Why not?" He pushed out his chair and left the room.

Carter looked at Teyla for an explanation.

"Ronon speaks of the planet where he and I met his fellow Satedans." She paused letting the information sink in with the three others. "There was a village where travelers from the galaxy gathered for supplies and relaxation," Teyla continued. "We might be able to gather some knowledge there that would help us."

Carter nodded as she stood from her place at the table. "You and Ronon go and check it out." Teyla nodded. As the Colonel left, Teyla started to follow but stopped to stand by Rodney. He and Daniel looked up at her. "I have confidence in you both and with Drs. Lam and Keller that you will find a solution and restore our friends to health." She nodded again, and left the room.

Rodney sighed and threw himself back in his chair. He looked at Daniel and said, "Don't you ever get tired of people expecting the impossible from you?"

"Maybe," Daniel said. "But I never get tired of being surrounded by people who care so much about each other. That never gets old." Daniel picked up his laptop and left the room. Rodney closed his laptop and mumbled, "It never gets old. I just wish I could get used to it."


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry to take so long with an update. I had myself backed into a corner with the technology. Hopefully this all still makes sense! Look forward to your reviews. Whew...sci-fi is challenging!**

**#############**

Teyla turned from the bartender and surveyed the tables once again. No one gave her a second look as she moved to the nearest empty table. She sat facing the door that led out to the village streets, hoping to catch a glimpse of Ronon. He had left nearly an hour before and she was debating on whether to look for him or to wait as they had agreed to earlier.

Teyla and Ronon had arrived on the planet more than four hours before. Finding little to nothing of gossip from the locals, they had decided to split up to cover more ground. Teyla had decided to stay in the tavern while Ronon did another round of the village. The tavern was a gathering place for not only local villagers but for travelers coming and going through the stargate. The planet was a stop on many trade routes throughout the galaxy.

As Teyla sat there, staring into her untouched drink, her ears perked up at a nearby conversation.

"I'm telling you, he was the strangest man I've ever talked to," said a man at the next table. He was a man who looked to be well-traveled and old enough to be Teyla's father but not her grandfather. He was talking to two male companions who seemed caught up in his tale. Teyla did her best to listen unnoticed by the three companions.

"So what was so strange about him, Trayner?" asked the youngest of the three. Teyla guessed that the young man was on his first journey away from home. She had a way of reading people by their clothing and demeanor. This young man handled his drink as though he had not been allowed to imbibe before. He was caught up in the story yet eager to chug down his drink so he could indulge in another. He tried to keep from choking on its stoutness.

Trayner continued his tale. "The man had no emotion, his face was a blank. He was tall with well-trimmed hair and no beard. This man had penetrating dark brown eyes and he carried a weapon that I had not seen before."

"What did it look like?" asked the other man who bore a slight resemblance to the storyteller. Seeming to be close to the same age, Teyla guessed this one might be Trayner's brother. As Trayner described the weapon, Teyla could have sworn he was describing a P90. The hair on her arms began to stand up and a chill ran down her spine.

The younger one spit out, "Did he threaten you?"

Trayner shook his head. "He didn't say anything except to ask one question. He looked at me and said 'Where is Atlantis?'" Trayner had lowered his voice and slowed the pace of his words to imitate the stranger. The words were almost mechanical.

Teyla almost spilled her mug as she quickly turned to the three men, startling them. "Where did you meet this man?" she demanded.

The men eyed her with suspicion and then the younger boy couldn't help himself.

"You're beautiful!"

Trayner and his 'brother' burst out with laughter. Teyla smiled at the wide-eyed young man, rose from her seat and pulled it around to join the men. Then looking directly at Trayner she apologized. "I'm sorry but I could not help overhearing your conversation." She thought quickly for a likely explanation for her interest. "My friend and I are looking for our companion who has been lost for quite some time. The man you described may be him. We believe he may be ill and is suffering from some kind of mind fever. Please, tell me where you saw him." She turned all her feminine charm towards Trayner. Please that he had garnered the attention of such an attractive woman, Trayner told her everything he could remember. He had encountered the man on his last trading journey through the stargate. He gave her the address and she thanked them. Catching sight of Ronon entering the establishment, she rose to leave.

Trayner got up and blocked her way. His demeanor was not threatening but still Ronon came to stand by her side. She indicated that Ronon was the friend she had mentioned and placed a calming hand on Ronon's chest. The Setedan calmed himself but remained ready to move if he didn't like the man's intentions.

"I just think I should warn you," Trayner began, warily looking at Teyla's protector. "Something about this man was eerie. You should be careful if you should find him." Teyla nodded and began once again for the door. Trayner's next words stopped her cold.

"There was another man with him. He was younger with dark hair that kinda stood up all over. He had that same look in his eyes. Almost vacant but …I don't know…dangerous? He too was carrying a strange weapon, like the first man." Again, Teyla nodded and the two left the tavern.

"What was that all about," Ronon asked Teyla as they stepped out into the afternoon sun.

"I am unsure," she said. "But it sounded like he was describing someone from Earth. He told me the stranger asked him of the location of Atlantis."

Ronon grunted. "That doesn't sound good."

Teyla looked at him and simply said, "No. It does not."

################

Carter found herself pacing behind McKay first, then Daniel, then Zelenka. The three men had been working nonstop for 18 hours, ever since the devices had been delivered from Area 51. Drs. Lam and Keller had shooed her away from the infirmary telling her she needed to rest, which she had attempted for exactly 2 hours. Barring her from returning to the infirmary, she had gone to her office to try to focus on other items that needed her attention. Two hours later, she was in the lab, annoying the hell out of Rodney McKay.

"Sam, this is going to take some time. This is meshing two entirely different technologies together…"

"Actually," the Czech interrupted, "it's pretty amazing how similar the two technologies are, when you think about it." Rodney's look of sarcastic annoyance didn't stop Zelenka. "The basic premise is the same. How to get information stored in the human or Tok'ra brain to unveil its secrets…"

"May I remind you, Zelenka, we don't have time for lauding praise on two races who, by the way, time and again prove that they are world class geniuses while being short a fry or two in their happy meals area of moral judgment," Rodney bit back.

"Guys!" It was Daniel this time. He stared at them over his glasses. Jackson was hunched over his laptop, staring once again at the Ancient gibberish recorded from the two friends lying in the infirmary. He turned to Sam, and sighed. "Are they always like this?" he asked.

Not in the mood to make light of the task, she merely said, "Yes." The lab was filled with silence as McKay and Zelenka sheepishly went back to what they were doing. Daniel pushed himself away from the table and walked over to Sam. "Buy you a cup of coffee?"

God, she missed working with him. He was always able to focus on the task but never forgot that people were involved. In Daniel's mind, sometimes the task could wait long enough for a few moments of comfort for a friend. Sam let him guide her out of the lab and towards the cafeteria. He always knew when she needed to talk or just his assurance that once again, everything would be okay. With Daniel fighting for Jack and John, she could more easily believe that it _would_ be alright.

_"Colonel Carter to operations."_

"Maybe it's Ronon and Teyla," she said to Daniel. They both switched directions and headed to the gateroom.

###############

Sam and Daniel arrived in operations just as Ronon and Teyla walked through the gate horizon. Sam invited them into her office as she tried to read their faces, taking her seat. Well, Teyla's face at least. Ronon's face rarely gave anything away. Daniel leaned on the front of Sam's desk.

"Did you find out anything?" Sam asked.

Teyla looked at Ronon and he merely shrugged his shoulders. Teyla relayed the information she had learned from the man named Trayner. She was careful to give only details without interpretation. She wanted the objective ears of Colonel Carter and Dr. Jackson to pick up on anything she and Ronon might have missed.

"That's odd," Daniel said.

"You said you have a gate address where this man Trayner described might be?" Carter asked.

"Yes," Teyla answered. "Might this be someone from earth?"

"I doubt it," Sam said. "It would have to be someone who didn't come from the SGC at least. And who else on earth would have the capabilities to travel to the Pegasus Galaxy if not from the SGC."

Daniel was deep in concentration. He turned to Sam. "I don't want to sound like an alarmist, but is it just me or could the descriptions of these two people, whoever they are, match a description of anyone we know?" Daniel had that look on his face that showed he had a hunch, a hunch that was laced with suspicion and maybe dread.

Sam was at a loss to connect with what Daniel was alluding to. It was probably the lack of sleep, too much caffeine and the stress of having two officers down for the count by a mysterious illness. She returned Daniel's gaze and waited for him to spit it out.

Before he could say anything, Ronon tensed from where he had been leaning against the wall. Teyla thought she knew what Dr. Jackson was thinking. However, she did not want to voice her opinion until she saw confirmation of her suspicion in Daniel's question.

"Sam," Daniel said quietly. "This man that Teyla met is describing Jack and John." He waited until it sank in. Carter's eyes focused and she stared back at Daniel. "No. It can't be. How? When?"

"What?" Ronon asked. He watched as Teyla's shoulders tightened and Jackson shook his head. Carter's face went white as she gripped the edge of her desk. Sam finally put words to what she, Daniel and Teyla were thinking.

"Human replicators."


	5. Chapter 5

Ronon broke the silence. "How is that possible? I thought all the replicators were destroyed in your galaxy?"

"If the men that this Trayner described to you _are_ human replicators of Jack and Sheppard then they would have had to have been created before the battle on Dakara," said Daniel.

Sam nodded. "The only possible explanation would be Replicator Carter. When she was on the Alpha site she accessed the mainframe of the base. She could have found data on both Atlantis and Colonel Sheppard."

"She then created these two replicators?" asked Teyla.

"That seems the best explanation," Daniel said. "But even if this is all true, there are a lot of questions."

"Like how they survived the ancient weapon used to destroy the replicators," said Sam.

"And," Daniel added, "how these two doppelgangers got to the Pegasus galaxy."

Teyla asked, "Could their existence in this galaxy be causing our General and Colonel to become ill?"

"Yeah," said Ronon. "I don't get that."

Sam sighed as she pushed away from her desk. "Most likely it has something to do with the ancient gene. I'll go fill Keller and Lam in on our theory." She then turned to Ronon and Teyla. "I'd like the two of you to have Major Lorne and his team join you on a recon to the planet this Trayner reported meeting these strangers. Remember, this is all conjecture. There could possibly be another explanation.

Ronon looked at Carter. "What happens if we find these human replicators?"

Sam paused. "Report back. Don't engage unless you have to."

##############

Sam had found herself once again in the infirmary. Teyla, Ronon, Major Lorne and 3 other marines had left earlier and weren't due to report in for another hour. She had sat by John's bed the first 30 minutes and was now sitting next to Jack's bedside. Neither was aware of her presence as they were being kept heavily medicated. Every now and then one of them would stir and a member of Keller's team was at the bedside checking vitals.

"Sam." It was Carolyn Lam's voice that startled her.

Sam cleared her throat. "Sorry, I didn't realize you were standing there."

Carolyn pulled up a chair next to Carter. "You were dozing. I really wish you would lie down for awhile."

Sam managed a subdued smile. "Is that doctor's orders again?" she asked.

"No. Notice how much Jennifer and I've been able to sleep?" Carolyn said. "We've come up with a theory about this illness. Want to hear?"

"Of course," said Sam and sat a little straighter in her chair.

Carolyn explained that she and Keller believed that if there were indeed human replicators of Sheppard and O'Neill, it might explain the two officers becoming ill. In creating the replicators, replicator Carter might have found a way to replicate the way the gene works in her creations. It would stand to reason that the human replicators have somehow intensified the gene to "connect" with their human counterparts and with Atlantis. "That connection has caused our people's genes to "overreact" and act like a virus, attacking them while the gene is sending out a signal to the replicator counterparts."

"Okay," began Sam, "that is plausible but it doesn't explain everything. For instance, why was General O'Neill affected in the Milky Way? And if they are somehow "connected" wouldn't these replicators be able to find us? "

"Atlantis _has_ moved since Replicator Carter was on the Alpha base," Lam offered. "Maybe the gene can't adjust to this new information."

Sam sat back in her chair once again. So many theories and no real answers. Nothing that would help Jack and John.

"One thing I do know…"Carolyn stopped as she stood up and looked at the two patients. She looked back at Sam. "They can't take much more of this. Jennifer and I are only keeping them comfortable. There's nothing else we can do medically."

"They're coming."

Sam and Carolyn were startled to hear O'Neill's drug-laced voice. Sam leaned forward from her bedside position, looking at the seemingly unconscious General. Carolyn went to get Dr. Keller. Jack's eyes opened but still had an unfocused look to them. "They're coming, "he whispered again.

"Who's coming?" Sam asked. She glanced up at Jennifer and Carolyn on the other side of the bed. Turning back to O'Neill, she reached for his hand. It was warm from the fever that would not break. "Sir, it's Carter. Can you hear me?"

Jack turned his head towards her. She could tell he was trying to come up from the fog that had been enveloping him for so long. "I can't remember…but I have to…help me remember, Carter."

Sam couldn't take it any longer. She gently placed O'Neill's hand on the bed and stood to leave.

"Where are you going, Colonel?" Jennifer asked.

"We can't wait any longer," Carter replied and left the infirmary on her way to McKay's lab.

##################

"Sam, we're working on it. But I don't think we're ready." Daniel looked at Sam and tried to convey to her what they were up against. "We know that Anubis used the device to interface with his ship's computer. We've figured out how to…"

Yes, yes, yes, she knows all that," McKay interrupted. "We are hooking it up to the Tok'ra memory device so we don't actually have to burrow into Sheppard and O'Neill's brains."

"The trick is to call up the Ancient language into the memory device…" Zelenka added before once again, being cut off by Rodney.

"But they need to be awake and coherent in order for it to work…"

Sam held up both hands and said, "Stop!" Amazingly, all three men stopped talking to look at the commanding officer of Atlantis. They waited for her to say something else but she stood there, thinking. Daniel could see the familiar look at Sam's face when the wheels were turning. She cocked her head, looking at him.

"Let me understand," she started and put her hands up again when Rodney started to say something. "You have it hooked up to the memory device? Just nod, yes or no." Rodney looked at Daniel then back to Sam. They both nodded their heads yes. She turned to Zelenka. "You can interface it with a laptop?" He too, after a few moments, nodded. She heaved a sigh.

"You're over-thinking this. Put the memory device on one of them, interface it into a laptop and …"

The two scientists and the archaeologist came out of their seats almost simultaneously. They all started speaking at once, with Zelenka's voice winning the verbal tug of war. "We program the computer to extract only the Ancient language as if it were a memory rather than just data."

Rodney pouted, "I was just going to say that."

Daniel added, "We get what we need, and only what we need…"

"And don't put them in any more physical danger than they already are," finished Sam.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Well, it's been a long time coming and I do apologize. But things are starting to settle down on the home front and I've finally decided how to fix this story. I rewrote chapter 6 and this is the new one. Hope it's better. So sorry for the delay, if you are even still interested. Let me know what you think if anyone is out there.! Happy holidays.**_

**Chapter 6**

"Teyla, come in." Major Lorne glanced around spotting the two marines with him at a short distance from him. After separating at the stargate, he and his team had gone to scope out one klick south and east while Teyla, Ronon and the two other marines went north and west. They had agreed to check in when they found something or when they had returned to the stargate, whichever came first. "Teyla, this is Major Lorne, please report," he repeated into his radio.

"Major Lorne, this is Teyla. We have found no signs of civilization in our area."

Lorne answered, "Neither did we. We have returned to the stargate."

Teyla responded. "We are almost there."

"We'll decide our next course of action once you've returned. Over."

Lorne adjusted his weapon and turned to his men. "Take five," he said before he realized his men were not in sight. "That's funny," he thought. He tapped his radio. "Hey, Freeman. Grant. Give me a heads up when you're both answering nature's call, would you?" There was only silence. Lorne tensed and called once more on his radio again, with no response from the two marines. He started in the direction of where he last saw his men while at the same time signaling Teyla once again.

"Yes, Major Lorne?"

"I may have a problem here. Head back to the gate. Now."

"What is it," Ronon's voice came over the radio.

Lorne responded, "My men have disappeared."

######################

Sam was pacing as she watched Rodney, Daniel and Zelenka setting up their equipment next to O'Neill's bed. They all agreed that Jack might be the best candidate to begin with the test since he had the most experience with the Ancient language. "Granted, he never remembered it after the Asgard erased it from his mind, but…" Daniel had started to explain. Sam had cut him off with "Let's just do this and see if it works."

Keller and Lam had insisted they had the right to stop the experiment the minute either of them sensed that Jack was suffering unduly. Daniel and Zelenka had immediately agreed. Rodney started to protest but with one look from all three of the women, he nodded his head in assent as well.

Rodney started to lean over to press the Tok'ra memory disk on Jack's temple. He stopped and looked over at Sam. "Just to clarify, if he wakes up and things have gone badly, I'm not the only one who's going to get blamed, right? I mean, he's never really liked me and far be it from me to give him one more reason…"

"Rodney." Sam bit out as Daniel grabbed the disk from Rodney's hand and pushed him out of the way. Daniel pressed the disk as gently as possible into Jack's right temple and winced. He remembered the prick and the tingling sensation the disks gave to the wearer. Unfortunately, Jack was oblivious to the minor discomfort.

Rodney picked up his laptop while Zelenka pushed the portable monitor where everyone could see it. Rodney looked up, heaved a sigh and asked, "So, we ready?" He looked at Jennifer and Carolyn who nodded and then to Sam, who said, "Go ahead." Rodney looked at Daniel as if to say, "Here goes nothing," and then began tapping the keyboard on the computer.

##################

Major Lorne continued trying to raise Freeman and Grant on his radio while making a 360 search pattern from the point where he had last seen the marines. Not only was there no sign of the men, there was no sign of a struggle or anything. They had just vanished. "How can this be?" Lorne thought. "They weren't out of my sight for more than a minute."

Something caught his eye about two feet in front of him. As he walked closer, he saw what looked like blood on the trail at his feet. Then he heard shouts and cries of help coming from below, down a steep embankment. By the time he got to the edge though, there was silence and the drop was too far down for him to see. As his eyes worked their way back up the side of the hill, he could see a discarded weapon and the remnants of the pack that Grant had been carrying. Farther down he could see what looked to be a marine issued boot. He knew his men were gone and his stomach churned as bile rose up in his throat. It had happened so fast.

Suddenly, he heard something in the underbrush on his left. He ducked down behind some trees and sighted along his P90 towards the sound. And waited. Nothing. He listened intently as the sweat broke out on his face and hands. Silence. Could it have been some kind of animal, he asked himself. He started to move out from his hiding place and then stopped. There it was again. He looked towards the place where the sound was coming. Maybe his men weren't dead after all. Maybe they had managed to kill whatever had taken them. "Freeman! Grant, is that you?" The noise stopped but there was no response to his call. Just as he was ready to radio the other team, he caught something moving in the underbrush. Something shiny was reflecting the sunlight.

Major Lorne swallowed hard. The noise was back and it was stronger. No animal he knew could make a sound like that. At least not an animal of flesh and blood. And his men would have tried to answer him if they could. Lorne touched his radio once again as the metallic sound drew closer and the sunlight danced off something moving towards him.

###############

"It's working," Rodney whispered, worried that if he spoke any longer the spell would be broken. "The T.A.C.i.T. is working!" Everyone's eyes were focused on the lines of script that were appearing on the monitor and on Rodney's laptop.

Carolyn cleared her throat, refusing to let her eyes drift away from the vitals readings being displayed on her patient's medical monitors. "What did you say is working?" she asked. Rodney smirked. "T.A.C.i.T. It's the acronym I came up for this device we're using. 'Tok'ra, Ancient, Computer- integrated Translator."

Sam looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Nice, Rodney. I like the suggested meaning too. Something that is understood without necessarily _verbally_ expressing it." Rodney looked up at the emphasis on 'verbally,' vaguely trying to nail down Sam's insinuation.

It was Daniel's turn to smirk. "Oh it's been expressed. Multiple times."

Zelenka was mumbling excitedly as the text was spilling over onto its 4th page on the monitor. He looked up as Jennifer moved closer to the General's bedside. "He is okay, yes?" he asked. "If he is not we can stop at anytime. We may have enough here to…" Jennifer held up her hand to stop him and smiled at the scientist. "No, we're good." She glanced over at Carolyn who nodded her agreement.

"Stop? Why would we want to stop?" Rodney's excitement was gaining momentum. In his excitement he missed the roll of the eyes Daniel shot at Sam. "This is fantastic!" Rodney continued. "The T.A.C.i.T. is laying it all out in order. This is no longer Ancient in gibberish. This is…" He stopped and his face began to lose its color. "Jackson. Are you getting this?"

Daniel was translating the words almost as quickly as they were being laid out on the screen. Suddenly, his hand went to his mouth and then to his head. "Stop."

####################

"I could use a little help here," Lorne's voice came through the radio. Teyla glanced at Ronon and without speaking the four took off on a dead run towards the stargate and the Major. As they crested the last rise before reaching the gate, Teyla flung out an arm to stop her teammates. The three halted, and stared at the scene before them.

"Holy shit," Lt. Rogers whispered, catching his breath.

"You can say that again," Ronon rumbled. He brought his weapon up to take aim.

"Wait!" Teyla cried. She hit the talk button on her radio and said quietly, "Major Lorne, what is your situation? We are a short distance from the stargate but have come across an obstacle."

#####################

Lorne's eyebrows drew together as he replied to Teyla. "I am facing what appears to be General Jack O'Neill and some metal bugs he's brought with him."

The human replicator, General Jack O'Neill stood less than 50 yards in front of Major Lorne, surrounded by clicking, grinding, replicators that were supposed to have been obliterated from existence in the Milky Way galaxy. But yet, there they were, frozen in their tracks waiting for psychic instructions from their leader.

Lorne kept his gun pointed at Replicator O'Neill, but not daring to make the first move. Sweat was beginning to run down his forehead and into his eyes. The sweat on his hands was making his hold on the weapon rather tenuous.

"What's _your _obstacle, Teyla? Wait, let me guess. If General O'Neill is with me then I'm guessing…." He left off, waiting for confirmation from his teammates.

##################

Teyla stared at what appeared to be Colonel John Sheppard and spoke softly into the radio again. "Your guess is correct, Major Lorne. We have what appears to be Colonel John Sheppard blocking our way to the stargate. He has several mechanical objects with him."

"Those are replicators in their most basic form," came Lorne's voice. There was a pause. Then Lorne spoke again. "Any ideas what our next move should be?"

Before Teyla could answer, Ronon cocked his weapon and grumbled, "I say _**we**_make the first move!" Ronon, followed closely by the two marines, charged up the hill, weapons firing.

################

Lorne heard the gunfire and watched as Replicator O'Neill turned his head towards the sound. He then looked straight at Lorne and began to walk towards him. The replicators swarmed forward while Lorne began to fire at everything that moved. As he stumbled in retreat, he was managing to destroy a few of the metallic bugs but they kept coming. Lorne could hear the shouting of his teammates and the noise of gunfire getting closer as his retreat was bringing him closer and closer to the stargate.

His mind was struggling with the idea of shooting at the leader, the man who looked like his superior officer. "It's not General O'Neill, you idiot," he thought to himself. He aimed for the human replicator and pumped all of his ammunition and fury at the General.

#####################

"Stop," Daniel said again. He said it so quietly that at first no one responded. He turned from the monitor and went straight to Jack, reaching for the disk attached to his friend's head. Rodney jumped from his stool and grabbed Daniel's arm, juggling his laptop in his rush to stop Daniel from pulling the disk.

"Wait, what if there's more!"

Daniel shrugged off Rodney's grasp and removed the disk from Jack's temple. The doctors both gasped, wondering if the sudden removal of the device would adversely affect their patient. Daniel turned his frustrated gaze at Rodney but spoke to Zelenka. "Did we get enough?"

The Czech could not find the words, obviously deeply affected by the message that had appeared on the screens. He managed to nod, "Yes," to Daniel's question and then whispered, "I believe we did."

Sam's eyes locked with Daniel's. "Daniel?"

Suddenly the room was filled with beeps and alarms going off from the medical monitors attached to O'Neill. Lam and Keller pushed everyone out of their way, moving towards their patient. The three scientists froze in shock as Sam shouted, "What's happening?"

"He's crashing," Jennifer cried and then began shouting orders to the medical personnel who had come in to help. Zelenka backed up against the infirmary wall with his hand to his mouth, muttering in his native language. A pale Rodney turned to Sam. He started to say something, thought better of it, and simply turned to watch as the medical team attempted to revive Jack O'Neill. Sam stood in shock, unable to move, until she felt Daniel's arm around her.

"Sam, I need to tell you why I stopped it. Sam?" Daniel's words weren't registering. The exhaustion and the threat of losing Jack had put her into shock. Daniel took Sam by the shoulders and locked her eyes with his. "Sam, you need to send help to the off world team. Now!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Sam!

Sam broke out of her trance, forcing herself to focus in on Daniel, pushing away the sounds of the medical team working on O'Neill. Daniel spoke again, knowing he finally had Sam's full attention. "Teyla and Ronon and the others need help. They are being attacked as we speak."

Without stopping to ask how he could possibly know this, Sam spoke into her comlink, ordering two more teams of Marines to ready for gate travel. Knowing she had to go to the gate room, she grabbed Daniel's hand and pleaded "Stay here with Jack." Daniel squeezed her hand and nodded his promise. Without another glance, Sam left the infirmary.

At the moment Sam was gone, the sounds of more alarms were going off. Daniel turned to see a swarm of medical staff moving in on Sheppard's bed this time as the body of the Colonel began convulsing. "Oh god, no!" Rodney cried. "What the hell is going on?" His eyes went back to the laptop readout as Daniel moved up to read over his shoulder.

"Dr. Keller! Col. Sheppard is crashing!" The nurse's voice carried over the chaos as Dr. Lam said, "Go!" to Jennifer. Keller handed over the defibrillator paddles to Lam and switched over to Sheppard's bed. "Get another crash cart over here, stat!"

Rodney stared in disbelief at the computer screen. "How can this be happening?" he whispered then jerked around to face Daniel. "We're still getting what's going on out there and it's no longer connected to him!"

Daniel looked at Sheppard then back to O'Neill. "That doesn't matter right now!" Daniel's voice was shaking. "Tell Sam that Teyla and Ronon have to stop trying to destroy the replicators. That's the only way to save Jack and John."

"What are you saying?" said Rodney. "You mean the T.A.C.i.T didn't do this?"

"No, why would it be affecting John as well," Daniel shot back. "It must be because the human replicators are being threatened with destruction by our team. They have to stop!"

Rodney blanched. "What kind of decision is that for her to make?"

Daniel shouted, "Just do it! Tell her what's happening!"

"What? Why me?" Rodney cried. In desperation, and out of patience, Daniel ripped the comlink from Rodney's ear, and walked away so he could talk to Sam himself. He walked back within a few very short moments, handing the comlink back to Rodney. "Sam wants you out there with her." Daniel took the laptop from Rodney's shaking hands.

Rodney started, "You should go…"

"For god's sake, Rodney!" Daniel gripped McKay's arm and then looked into the man's eyes with pleading. "I promised her I would stay with Jack. Sam needs you out there. Now go!"

###############

The sounds of the gate being dialed momentarily stopped the gunfire. "Gate activation!" Ronon yelled.

The Atlantis team members ducked and rolled out of the way of the rupturing vortex while a few scattered replicators were destroyed. The momentary lull in their advance gave the team a chance to regroup as Lorne ran to Teyla's side.

"This is Atlantis base to the away team, do you read?" Colonel Carter's voice echoed through the radios.

"We read you loud and clear, Colonel," Lorne answered through ragged breaths. The team watched as the two Human replicators stood motionless and the metallic bugs froze in place. Teyla exchanged a questioning look with Ronon who instinctively tightened his hold on his weapon.

"Ma'am, we are under attack…" Lorne began but was cut off by Carter's voice.

"We know." There was a pause as Lorne's face failed to mask his surprise at her response.

Carter spoke again. "Major, I don't hear any gunfire?" Her words came out as a question rather than a statement. "What is the situation?"

Teyla answered this time. "Colonel, all the replicators are stopped. It is as if the human replicators are listening to what _**you**_ are saying." The team kept their eyes glued waiting for the enemy to renew their advance.

"Ma'am, how did you know of our situation?" Lorne asked as he quickly wiped his hands with dust from the ground, in effort to maintain control of his gun in his sweaty hands.

"I don't have time to explain but please confirm that your attackers are human replicators that look like Colonel Sheppard and General O'Neill."

Lorne grimaced trying not to think of the implications behind his commanding officer's words. "That's an affirmative."

There was a pause that in reality was mere seconds but to the away team seemed like eons. "Are you able to retreat to the jumper?"

Teyla glanced behind them to where the jumper sat 200 yards behind them. "Yes, Colonel Carter."

Ronon grumbled. "What? We're just supposed to run home to mommy without destroying these blood suckers?" Teyla looked at him sharply but didn't like the idea either.

The orders came. "Major Lorne, get your team out of there and head back to Atlantis. Do not engage the enemy further except in defensive measures. If at all possible do not, I repeat, do not destroy the human replicators."

Lorne was shaking his head. His hand went to the radio. "Ma'am, with all due respect, we leave and these guys are going to find a way to follow, don't you think?"

"Again, Major, there is no time to explain. Get the hell out of there as safely as you can." And then she added, "Do everything you need to bring your team home but …" She stopped.

Sam's voice came again, with a tint of resignation to her tone. "Bring your team home, Major."

"You heard her! Let's go."

The transmission was cut seconds before the gate shut down. As it did, the eerie metallic sound started up again, as the bugs advanced, seeking out the retreating humans. The two human replicators stood their ground and watched the team shooting their way back to the jumper. Ronon couldn't keep his eyes off of the one that looked like Sheppard. Ronon was the last to move backwards, his aim at the ground, destroying as many bugs as he could, but his eyes remaining on the two doppelgangers.

"Ronon!" Teyla was shouting at him. Lorne and the two marines entered the jumper first, while Teyla stopped at the entrance, keeping an eye on the Satedan. Lorne barked at Travis to fire up the engines then turned back to yell at Teyla to board the ship. But Teyla's eyes were locked on what Ronon was already watching.

Replicator Sheppard and O'Neill nodded to each other and both turned and began walking towards Ronon who was still 100 yards from the jumper. Before anyone realized what was happening, the two Replicators began to run at full speed towards Ronon and the jumper.

"Ronon, run!" Lorne and Teyla both screamed. "Don't shoot, Ronon, don't shoot!"

Ronon began backing up and his rage was all-consuming. He began to fire, aiming at the ground directly in front of the two human replicators. A shot hit Replicator Sheppard in the left leg and he went down. Replicator O'Neill picked up even more speed and bolted directly at the Satedan. Just as he was ready to take direct aim at the Replicator, a blast came directly over his left shoulder, hitting the fake officer full in the chest. Ronon turned to see Lorne holding an Anti-Replicator weapon he had retrieved from the jumper's hold. What once was a replica of General Jack O'Neill, was obliterated into metallic dust, not 10 inches from Ronon's previous position.

Ronon felt Teyla's hands on his right arm, pulling as hard as she could. "Come on, Ronon. We must go!" As they boarded the jumper, Lorne yelled "Shut the hatch!" Teyla dragged Ronon to a seat behind the two marines. Travis dialed the gate and swung the jumper towards the gate. The rest of the team looked down at the war zone they were leaving; the setting sun glinting off the metal of a thousand, tiny, ever-moving bugs. In the middle of the carnage, stood Replicator John Sheppard looking up at the puddle jumper.

The silence was broken as Lt. McMains contacted Atlantis, sending through their IDC.

"Is everyone accounted for?" came Colonel Carter's voice.

Lorne cleared his throat. "Yes, ma'am. However, … the human replicator of O'Neill was destroyed." The team heard an audible gasp coming from Rodney McKay and Col. Carter asking for Dr. Lam through her comlink.

"What have I done," Ronon whispered as Major Travis pointed the jumper through the gate towards Atlantis.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Sam was only vaguely aware of the gate's activation behind her as she ran towards the infirmary. Her pulse was pounding so loudly in her ears Rodney's voice calling to her was muffled. "This can't be it," she thought. "Not after everything we've been through. God, Jack! Don't do this to me." She swiped blindly at the tears and slowed her pace only as she reached the infirmary door. Daniel suddenly blocked her way, reaching out to grab her shoulders.

"Daniel, get out of…"she started.

"Sam, it's okay. Look!" Daniel gently turned her towards the bed where Jack was lying. Dr. Lam stood over him, stethoscope pressed against his chest. His eyes were open and his head turned to Sam as she slowly walked to stand by Carolyn's side.

"Hey," Jack said his raspy voice barely above a whisper. "What'd I miss?"

Sam heaved a sigh with a hint of a smile and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it. Sam looked at Carolyn, her eyebrows raised asking the question. Somehow she couldn't quite find her voice to speak yet.

Placing the stethoscope around her neck, Dr. Lam grabbed O'Neil's wrist and glanced at her watch. "He seems to be returning to normal, Colonel Carter. While I can't explain it, I'm cautiously optimistic the worse is over for him." She turned to look at the monitors and then said, "I wish I could say the same for Colonel Sheppard."

Sam silently berated herself for centering her attention on Jack, turning to see Jennifer and her team still working on John. The crash cart had been pulled away but new IV bags were in place and orders were still being given as Dr. Keller's full attention was on her patient. Sam patted Jack's hand and said, "I'll be right back."

Jack had followed her gaze to the next bed. "Carter, I'm okay. Do your job." He started to sit up. "Where do you think you're going?" Carolyn's stern voice stopped him. The General, thinking maybe the doctor was right as waves of nausea and dizziness swept over him, mumbled, "Nowhere, Doc. Just readjusting."

Dr. Keller met Sam halfway. "He's stable for now, Colonel. But he's no better. What went on out there?"

"We met the Replicators." Keller, Carter and Jackson turned at the sound of Major Lorne's voice. Lorne, Teyla and Ronon stood at the door of the infirmary. Ronon couldn't take his eyes off of General O'Neill. O'Neill saw the big guy staring at him. He lifted his chin in a "how ya doin'" gesture and gave a little wave. Ronon pushed Lorne out of his way, strode over to O'Neill's bed and grabbed the General's hand. O'Neill gasped a little at the pressure.

"Ow, take it easy big guy!" Jack looked at Lam for help as Ronon wouldn't let go. Carolyn moved over to Ronon and touched his arm.

"Ronon?" When Carolyn got no response, she looked between O'Neill and Ronon, wondering at the sudden smile on the Satedan's face, which she realized was more of a grin actually. She pulled at his hand still firmly grasped around the General's. "Could you, um, come back and visit…" she pulled, "another time…" and tugged, "when the … General's had some rest?" Ronon was not releasing his grip. Jack was looking at the Doctor for help. Finally, Teyla approached Ronon and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Ronon, General O'Neill is alive. You can let go now."

The quiet voice got through to Ronon, and he released his hold on O'Neill. Jack flexed his hand and mumbled something about his hand being numb as Ronon retreated to the door. He nodded at Carter and left the infirmary. Sam looked at Teyla, silently asking "What was that all about?"

"Ronon felt he might have been responsible for General O'Neill's death," Teyla began to explain. "Major Lorne destroyed the O'Neill replicator in order to save Ronon."

Daniel turned to the group. "It looks like it was just the opposite. When the O'Neill Replicator was destroyed, Jack came out of his arrest, and looks to be in full recovery."

"And in not destroying the Sheppard Replicator, John is still in trouble," added Jennifer.

"What's Colonel Sheppard's status, doctor?" Sam asked.

Jennifer sighed. "Roughly the same as it was before this all began." She noted the looks on their faces and added, "He's not worse. I'll let you know of any changes."

"How's it going in here?" Rodney entered the infirmary, nervously glancing over at O'Neill who merely frowned at him. "Oh, good to see O'Neill isn't …you know…that he is still with us." He stopped and cleared his throat. "How's Sheppard?"

"Not good, Rodney." Sam snapped. She regretted her remark even as she said it. There was no need to take out her frustration on him, she thought. Rodney considered John Sheppard a close friend, probably his closest now that Beckett was gone. In an effort to apologize for her behavior, she reached out a hand, placing it on Rodney's shoulder.

"We need to figure out our next course of action, Rodney. In the meantime, I need you and Radek to take another look at the T.A.C.i.T. See if it might still be useful." She gave his shoulder a pat and then asked Daniel to join her and the away team for a debriefing. "Meet me in the conference room in ten," she said to Lorne, who nodded and left with Teyla and Jackson. She watched as Rodney and Zelenka's heads bent together in the far corner of the infirmary. It was a relief to know that the two were best when they had a specific job to do. She then approached Jack's bedside. Dr. Lam took that as her cue for a long awaited coffee break.

Jack's eyes were closed as Sam took a seat beside him. Thinking he was asleep, she glanced at the machines, noting his vitals. She had been in his position enough times to know what was normal and was glad to see that things looked good. She blew out a sigh and placed her head in her hands, taking the opportunity to spend a few precious moments pulling herself back together. She jumped as she felt a hand on her knee.

"Hey, you okay?" Sam looked from Jack's hand to his face. Those deep brown eyes were turned to her with concern that sent a warm tingle through her chest. She was so grateful that those eyes were full of life again instead of wracked with pain. Picking up his hand in both of hers, she managed a tight chuckle. "Am I okay?" She smiled and leaned her forearm onto the bedrail. "As soon as I figure out how to get Sheppard back to us, prevent Atlantis from disaster by destroying all these new replicators before they fully invade the Pegasus galaxy, I'll be good."

"Ah, that's all." Jack said sarcastically. He then looked at her in a way that made her realize he wanted to say something else. Then he coughed that nervous little cough he had before changing his mind. "As soon as that no nonsense Doctor will let me out of this bed, I'll see what I can do to help."

Sam stood and placed his hand back on his bed. "You are not to get out of this bed until she says so, General. Get some rest. You've been through a lot."

"Yes, ma'am!" Jack said and did a mock salute. Before she got to the door, his eyes had closed again for some much needed, painless, sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

_John thought the fog was lifting. He could hear the voices all around him. They were so close. Some of the voices sounded familiar. But it was so confusing._

_ He could hear Dr. Keller and the voice of that cute nurse. What was her name? There she was again. Valerie? Vicky? She was from Canada. Same as Rodney._

_ Rodney. John could tell Rodney was upset. No, not upset. He was losing it in true Rodney McKay fashion. Jackson was there too. And Radek. He never knew what the Czech was saying when he reverted to his language of birth but he knew it was never good._

_ Ahhhgghh! The pain was excruciating. It was in his chest. They kept hitting him over and over again. He wanted to scream for them to stop but he had no voice. Why couldn't he just get the heck out of here, wherever "here" was._

_ Jennifer, please. Tell them to stop! The pain was more than he had ever experienced before. 'Just let me go,' he tried to shout._

_ "Don't let go, John."_

_ Who was that? The voice sounded vaguely familiar._

_ "You have to tell me where you are, so I can help you."_

_ Wait. That voice was closer than the others. Whenever he spoke, the pain seemed to lessen. Didn't it? Or was it worse?_

_ "Tell me, John. Where is Atlantis?"_

_ Aggghhhh! No, I can't tell you! Go away!_

_ "But I can help you. End your pain."_

_ I won't let you get to them. You don't belong here. I don't care how bad this gets. I won't tell you where Atlantis is._

_ Suddenly there was silence. The voices of his friends were gone. The fog was settling over him again. Only this time, he wasn't alone in this place. This place that had no solidity, no surroundings, only fog and haze. The pain was still there only not as intense. It was…static…no longer coming in waves. A constant. A silhouette came close and stood nose to nose with him. John looked and saw a mirror image of himself._

_ "Tell me. Where is Atlantis, John Sheppard?"_

###############

"I say we go back."

Colonel Carter turned to face the Satedan. "I agree," she said. "But, we have to go in more prepared this time."

The team was gathering for the second time that day. After the initial debriefing, Carter had commanded that they all take a two hour break to refresh themselves. Ronon had been the only one who had to be convinced that the time out was needed. Daniel, Rodney and Radek had spent the time summarizing the information gathered from the T.A.C.i.T., while the others had eaten, showered and rested. They were now back in the conference room ready to formulate a plan. Most of them were having a hard time focusing on the task. Their thoughts were with Colonel John Sheppard still critically ill in the infirmary.

Major Lorne shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "With all due respect, ma'am, if we go back, aren't we opening the door to Atlantis for attack by these replicators?"

"Yes, Major. We have to go in with a plan that will eliminate the threat of the replicators leaving that world to not only attack Atlantis but to also get a foothold in this galaxy."

Daniel cleared his throat. "According to what information we have gathered from the device, the replicators are limited to the planet on which you found them. They were a product of Replicator Carter in the Milky Way galaxy before the replicators were destroyed from Dakara.

Teyla turned a puzzled gaze to Jackson. "How did Replicators O'Neill and Sheppard survive the attack from Dakara?"

"That's easy. They weren't in the Milky Way at the time."

All heads turned to see General Jack O'Neill standing in the doorway.

"General," Sam started to stand, but was stopped by a wave of Jack's hand. "It's okay, Colonel. Dr. Lam released me on the condition that I report back to her if I should feel…how'd she put it?...weird in any way." There were sighs of relief around the table as Jack looked around for an empty seat. Ronon jumped up from his seat. Daniel and Sam both controlled their faces as Jack stepped back cautiously from Ronon, hands slightly raised in a defensive position.

"Here, General. Sit here." Ronon pointed towards the vacated seat and Jack relaxed. "Thank you," he said as he sat and motioned for Ronon to sit in the next seat. O'Neill caught Jackson grinning at the exchange and sent him a glare.

Clearing his throat again, Daniel glanced at his notes. "Jack's right. It seems that Replicator Carter managed to put these replicators, individually in some kind of stasis pod while she was in hiding. Those pods then were engineered to travel to the Pegasus Galaxy where they arrived sometime before our defeat of the replicators on Dakara."

"That was almost three years ago," Lorne interjected. "Why did this all start happening with the Colonel and the General in the last few days?"

"The gene." Everyone jumped a little at Rodney's voice. He had been unusually quiet since the meeting had begun. Sam did a little more silent berating, noting how pale Rodney was and how strangely quiet he had been.

Teyla must have noticed as well because she silently got up and poured a glass of water, setting it in front of McKay. Daniel slid a pack of cheese crackers he had previously stuck in his pocket, to Teyla who in turn placed them in Rodney's hand. He mumbled a 'thank you' and nervously tore into the package. Sam made a mental note to make sure Rodney ate something of more substance after this debriefing.

As Teyla poured another glass of water for him, seeing he drained the first one, she encouraged to go on. "Rodney. You were saying something about the Ancient gene?"

"What? Oh, yeah." He bit into a cracker as if tasting it and then shoved the whole square into his mouth. Talking around the snack he began his explanation.

"Replicator Carter found out about the gene when she was manipulating us to believe she wanted to destroy the Human replicator Fifth. Somehow she 'replicated,'" Rodney did the 'parentheses' gesture with his hands, "the Ancient gene and retrofitted her human replicators with it."

Daniel continued when Rodney stopped for another gulp of water. "When Replicator O'Neill and Sheppard awakened, the Ancient gene was somehow directly connected with our O'Neill and Sheppard." He caught Jack wincing out of the corner of his eye.

"The Human Replicators were contacting them the way replicators do causing them to physically be aware of the Replicators' presence, "Rodney continued. "But for some reason, the Replicator genes sending replicator language and messages to our people acted like a virus."

"So instead of sticking their hands in our heads…," Jack started.

"Which they obviously couldn't do…" Daniel began.

"It was kind a like a long distant…"Rodney said.

"Sticking their hands in our heads, kinda thing." Jack finished.

Rodney sighed. "Yeah. I guess so." He stuffed another cheese cracker square in his mouth, ignoring the crumbs he left behind. "Only the connection kept going. There was no pulling the hand out of the head…thingy."

"Huh." Jack said. There was silence around the table until Ronon grumbled, making Jack jump a little in his chair.

"So we killed the Human replicator O'Neill and he's fine now," Ronon said. "So we go kill the Sheppard one and game's over. Right?"

Jack looked at Sam and then Daniel. He pointed at Ronon and said, "I like him."

"Yes, Ronon," Sam agreed. " That is our main objective. Eliminate the Replicator Sheppard. However, we also have to be sure that _**all**_ the replicators are destroyed."

"And in doing so, making sure the game isn't over for _**our**_ Colonel Sheppard," interjected Rodney.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Thanks to all who are still finding my story worth reading. Would love some reviews!**_

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"Sam!"

Carter and O'Neill turned to see Daniel running up beside them.

"Daniel." Jack said. "Carter and I were just heading to the cafeteria for some food. Would you care to join us?"

For a brief moment, everything seemed to be normal to Daniel. Here he was with two of his best friends, invited to share a meal, as if the fate of the galaxy was not at stake. Jack was back on his feet and Sam, even though he knew better, was looking like her old self again. The only thing missing was a big guy from Chulak. Just as quickly, the "normalness" was gone as he allowed himself to see the tension had not left Carter's eyes and the General's fists were unconsciously clenching and unclenching.

Daniel waited until they had gotten their food and managed to take a few bites himself before he finally found the nerve to say what had been eating at him since the second briefing. And yet, when he tried to verbalize his thoughts, his voice wasn't there. Instead he poked his spoon at what seemed to be creamed corn on his plate.

"Daniel? What is it?" Sam's voice shook him out of his reverie. He looked up to see Jack place his fork down and pick up his cup of coffee, looking at Daniel through the rising steam.

Daniel cleared his throat. "There's something that's been bugging me. " He stopped. Maybe he was just worrying about nothing.

Jack sighed. "Daniel?"

Daniel did that half tilt of his head and looked directly at Sam. "The thing I don't get is how could the O'Neill Human Replicator affect Jack in the Milky Way if the Replicator was here in the Pegasus Galaxy?"

Sam sat her coffee mug down and began rubbing her temples with both hands. "I've been trying not to verbalize that question myself, Daniel. We've got things nailed down here with only the Sheppard Replicator to deal with, right?"

"Yeah," Jack sniffed. "Why go borrowing trouble where we don't need it, I always say." He hesitated, looking at his friends, wanting desperately to change the subject. "You guys got pie on Atlantis?"

Daniel and Sam looked at him, Sam with a half-grin on her face. Daniel just looked confused. Now that looks familiar, thought Jack. If only the big guy were here with that one eyebrow up muttering, 'Indeed,' we'd all be just fine.

"Jack," Daniel began. "I'm concerned that we're missing something here."

Jack sighed and stopped himself before saying "Oh here we go again." He had stopped saying that a long time ago where Daniel was concerned. Jackson had proved himself over and over again and since his time as General, Jack had read enough reports to know that Daniel was worth listening to. The smartass disappeared, replaced by the stone face of the General. "You're suggesting that, what, I have another evil twin out there? Back in the Milky Way? How is that possible?"

It was Sam's turn to look confused. How had the General leaped to that conclusion when she was just catching up? She really did need some time to sleep. The General had first collapsed in the Milky Way, leading to only one of two possible conclusions. The O'Neill Replicator could connect with him over the span of two galaxies or there was another Replicator doppelganger back in the Milky Way.

"But Daniel," Sam said, "If that's true how was that Replicator not destroyed during the battle at Dakara?"

Daniel shook his head. "I'm not sure. Unless, it wasn't created until after Dakara?"

Jack grumbled. "Now that's not possible. We won. They were all destroyed. All of them. None left to create anymore of those stinking bugs or Fifths or Carters or O'Neill's or goddam Sheppards!"

Sam and Daniel were quiet, staring into their now empty coffee mugs.

Jack leaned in. "And before you say anything's possible, tell me that little machine you scientists pulled together…"

Daniel mumbled, "T.A.C.i.T."

Jack flinched. "Whatever McKay's calling it, why hasn't it mentioned another O'Neill or Sheppard for that matter."

"Do you think there might be a Sheppard Replicator back on earth as well?" Sam interrupted.

Jack leaned in even further. "Sam, you are jumping to the conclusion that there is another human replicator back on earth. Or at the very least in the Milky Way. And now you're just ready to accept the possibility that there are two? Why not three, or ten, or hell's bells, why not a hundred!"

Sam closed her eyes and unconsciously started rubbing her temples again. She felt Jack's hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes, meeting Daniel staring back at her. His eyes seemed to have an air of apology about them, as they so often did when he felt he was bringing more bad news.

"I'm sorry." O'Neill's voice was low. "I guess I'm still feeling a little…on edge?" The last statement coming out as a question, led Sam to make a decision. She pushed her chair away from the table and stood, taking hold of Jack's arm as she did so, pulling him to his feet. Daniel stood and began stacking their trays.

"Come on, General. I promised Dr. Keller to return you to the infirmary after you had a good meal so her staff can tuck you in bed." Jack started to protest. Sam held up her hand. "Uh,uh. One more night of observation is all she wants." She then motioned to Daniel. "Daniel? Walk with us?" Daniel stopped stacking and took Sam's other offered arm. The trio headed back towards the infirmary.

"Here's the deal. We are all getting at least six hours of rest tonight. That includes you Daniel, **and** McKay **and** Zelenka. I've even ordered Lam and Keller to sleep while the medical staff watches over the General and John. None of us can think clearly anymore and I need everyone to be clear headed in the morning when we launch our attack on Replicator Sheppard. It's all I can do to convince Ronon not to head off to the planet by himself. As for the possibilities that we have just been mulling over, unless Daniel, you and Rodney think it could have any implications whatsoever on our destroying Replicator Sheppard, we're going to have to figure that one out later. Deal?"

Sam stopped, seeing they had arrived outside the infirmary doors. She looked fondly at the two men at her side. They both nodded their heads at her "Deal?" She knew Daniel would let her be the one in charge right now and he whispered "goodnight" to her as he planted a kiss on her cheek. He patted Jack on the back before disappearing towards his guest quarters. Sam looked at Jack, and suddenly she felt awkward with her arm still crooked in his. They both stepped back at the same time, letting their arms unlink and fall safely to their sides.

"You know, I could pull rank on you, Colonel," Jack said.

Carter blushed. She couldn't tell if it was from embarrassment or a stab at her pride. "For what?" she asked.

He grinned mischievously. "Well, I could say I wanted to spend my first painless night of sleep somewhere other than the infirmary. Forget the damn doctor. I get to choose where I sleep now that I'm not a blithering Ancient idiot."

Sam shook her head trying to stay focused on the man in front of her as her superior officer and not the man she longed for. They were both always on the edge of what an observer might see as inappropriate behavior and at the very least some mild sexual harassment. Just as she was about to admonish him, Jack wiggled his eyebrows, threw her a salute and turned towards the infirmary. She watched as one of the nurses ushered him over to a bed, where a fresh pair of bed clothes awaited him. As the curtain was drawn, she breathed a sigh of relief and glanced once more over to the sleeping Colonel Sheppard. Would she really be able to sleep with her friend's life still in the balance? For his sake and for all who depended on her leadership, she would have to try.

#############

_John was scoping out the village. Children were running in all different directions with their parents pushing them and calling them to hide. Something was off. Where was Teyla? And Ronon? Hell, where was McKay? He could hear the high pitched sound of Wraith darts above them, above the screaming and shouting. Then a face he knew and dreaded was in front of him._

_"Kolya! What are you doing here?"_

_The Genii Commander stared at Sheppard and shifted to level his weapon straight at him. Then he laughed. A maniacal laugh that seemed odd from Kolya. It was more of a Wraith laughing at him. And then it was. It was a Wraith in Kolya's uniform. The villagers had disappeared and the Wraith was upon John in an instant. Grabbing him by the throat, the Wraith hissed at Sheppard._

_"Where are you Sheppard? Where is Atlantis? I'll let you go and your team will be saved if you tell me where Atlantis is? Hurry, before it's too late!"_

_"Go ahead bloodsucker. Kill me. You won't get Atlantis' location out of me."_

_The pain was so intense. The knife was there again, cutting into his head behind his eyes. But the Wraith had vanished. There was no village and no Commander Kolya. Only fog. And those strange hazy lights._

_"John, John, John. Just tell me your secrets. And this will all be over."_

_John looked through the fog and into Sheppard's eyes. Those empty eyes that showed no sign of life. Only thoughtless malice._

_"Who are you and what have you done with my people?"_

_"Tell me, John. Where is Atlantis?"_


	11. Chapter 11

Teyla couldn't sleep. She had meditated and had spent time humming the childhood folk melodies that usually calmed her spirit. But rest escaped her. Her thoughts kept returning to her friend, John Sheppard, lying in the infirmary, suffering a torment that she could only imagine. If only she could bear some of his pain herself, then maybe she could find some peace. Finding none, she lingered at the window facing the night sky, searching for a sense of what escaped her in the stars that danced above the Atlantis base.

The aroma of her second cup of spiced tea encircled her with a momentary shift in the air.

"Come in, Ronon."

She turned to see Ronon Dex standing in the doorway of her quarters. "You know, you really should shut your door at night," he grumbled, moving in to the room and settling down on the end of her bed.

Teyla smiled at him, lightly touching him with her hand on his shoulder as she passed to the table to pour her visitor a cup of tea. "When I am restless, I leave my door open in case someone else might need the company." She sat beside him as she handed him a cup. She waited for Ronon to speak, noticing he only stared into the tea rather than lifting it to drink. After a few moments, she reached out and placed her hand on top of his wrist.

"You are troubled that we have yet to return to the planet?" she guessed.

Ronon, at first, didn't respond. He continued to stare into his cup. Then, in one swift movement, he swallowed all the tea in one gulp, stood and crossed back to the table to replace the cup. Teyla imagined he wanted to get it out of his hands before he crushed it in sheer frustration.

"You know me, Teyla. I'm not one for just standing around!"

She watched him as he began to pace the floor of her quarters. Rather than interrupt his thoughts with more prodding, Teyla waited for her friend to speak when he was ready.

Finally, he stopped in front of her, looking down at her with fire in his eyes. "I mean, I don't get it. Sheppard's in there dying, and we're all supposed to get our beauty rest before we go after that thing that's killing him!" His pacing started anew. He huffed towards the window and puffed back towards the door, twice. On the third time, his path led straight to the door, where he slammed his fist into the adjacent wall. Teyla tensed as she watched Ronon's body go rigid, except for his head that slowly descended until his forehead was resting just above the spot where his hand had impacted the wall. Silently, she moved to him.

"Are you all right?" she asked quietly.

Without looking up, Ronon whispered, "No. I need Sheppard to be all right. I thought my actions had caused the death of General O'Neill. And now we know how to help Sheppard and we're stuck here, doing nothing."

"Resting, is doing something. We are preparing for a battle and we have a better chance at victory if our bodies, minds and our spirits are rested and focused. You know that, Ronon. Down deep, you know that." She gently rubbed her hand across his broad back, doubting that her light touch was offering any comfort, but praying that it might. After a few moments, when Ronon's breathing seemed to have relaxed, she asked again if he was all right.

Ronon sighed. "Yeah. Better." He pushed himself away from the wall and managed to give her one of his rare hints of a smile. Then he held up his hand. "Do you have any ice or should I go check in the infirmary?"

#############

Rodney tossed and turned until his bedding was twisted around his legs, entrapping him in a horribly frustrating grip. With an agonized groan he ripped the bedding away and swung his legs over the side of his bed. He leaned his head into one hand while the other one drummed a rhythm on his kneecap.

_It had been a long time since his thoughts had been quite so chaotic. Yes, to others his thoughts always seemed chaotic but that was just because other people couldn't process things as fast as he could and he did it so much better when he could it out loud. And that always threw less intelligent people off track, thinking he was a crazed maniac when half the time it was just because his blood sugar was low or he was working on ten different problems at the same time._

_That was it. The reason he couldn't sleep was because the problem with Sheppard was the only problem at the moment. Destroy Replicator Sheppard and John would be returned to normal just like General O'Neill. _

Rodney stood up and started straightening his sheets and blanket.

_Only there was another problem. Destroying all the other replicators on the planet before they could get off that planet and back to Atlantis. Or anywhere else in Pegasus. Right now they were replicating as everyone in Atlantis was trying to get some rest, which posed another problem. When they finally did launch an attack in the morning there would be heaven knows how many more replicators since the away team had returned. How were they possibly going to win against hundreds of thousands of those annoying little bug thingys._

Rodney moved to fluff his pillow.

_And then there's that other thing. Jackson thinks there's a possibility that another O'Neill Replicator could exist in the Milky Way which is why O'Neill was affected there before coming to Pegasus. But wait, there was something in the T.A.C.i.T. read out, wasn't there, that would explain that? Oh, I'm pretty sure Jackson's way off base there. Nothing to worry about. I don't think._

Rodney reached into the drawer of his nightstand and took out a bottle of ibuprofen. He absentmindedly poured out three tablets, replaced the bottle, closed the drawer, popped the pills and drank the water that remained in a glass by the table lamp.

_Speaking of the T.A.C.i.T., I wish Sam would let me attach it to Sheppard now. But the problem is if we do that, are we putting him in more danger. Or Atlantis for that matter because the probability exists that Replicator Sheppard would be alerted to Atlantis' location and then we'd all be screwed anyway._

Rodney sat back down on his bed, resting his head in his hand, and began drumming out a rhythm on his other kneecap with the other hand.

_Then there was the __**big**__ problem. His emotions. It was bad enough with the burden of responsibility of translating what was going on in the stricken officers' brains…okay, well Radek and Jackson offered some help…and then O'Neill almost dying and then Sheppard…_

Rodney's fingers stopped their drumming. Both hands held his head as the throbbing headache was finally starting to dissipate as the ibuprofen moved through his bloodstream.

_There was the __**real **__problem. Sheppard. He couldn't lose him. Not another friend. Especially Sheppard._

Rodney started to count on his fingers the number of problems that had grown from one to … how many? He pulled back the bedding and lay back down. Now, he might be able to sleep. For a little while anyway.

###########

"Do you need anything else, General," asked the nurse.

"No, thanks," Jack answered. He gave her a brief smile before shutting her eyes and hearing her click off the light over his bed. The pain in his head was gone but the exhaustion of what his body had gone through was just beginning to settle in. He was hoping he would feel up to taking part in the maneuvers in the morning. Sam was going to need all the help she could get.

He sighed. _Replicators, again. At least it wasn't another damned snake head. Or half ascended nut job. Or another alien with a god complex. Replicators didn't have souls anyway. Jack gave an involuntary shudder remembering how close Fifth and then Replicator Carter had almost proved him wrong on that. And these Asurans were nasty buggers as well. Try as he might, he hadn't quite wrapped his mind about the differences between them except the Milky Way replicators had been created by a damn robot with a crush on Daniel and the Pegasus ones were caused by some damn screw up by the almighty Ancients._

Jack's thoughts were interrupted by a moan coming from the other side of the infirmary. _Sheppard. Damn. How the hell could he take much more?_

Jack got out of his bed, looking for a robe to throw on to cut the chill of the infirmary. Finding one at the foot of his bed, he put it on, slipped his feet into some slippers and made his way to Sheppard's bedside. The night nurse met him there.

"Sir, you should go back to bed." Jack could tell she was a little nervous. It was probably her first attempt at ordering a General around. He placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll sit with him for awhile," he said, then added, "if it's okay with you?"

"Well," she started but stopped when O'Neill placed his finger on his lips in a hushing gesture. "I promise it will be our little secret. Your boss doesn't have to know. Besides, I won't stay long." He turned on that O'Neill charm, raising both eyebrows in a pretense at innocence while pulling the corners while giving her just a ghost of a smile.

She sighed, caving in. "Okay. You have 20 minutes, then, back to bed." Jack pulled up a chair close to the bed and sat. After replacing Sheppard's chart, the nurse turned to the General and said quietly, "Who knows? Maybe he knows you're here." He watched as she padded back to sit at the desk, turning her attention to the computer log.

"Yeah, maybe he does," Jack whispered.

##################

Radek had waited until he thought the coast was clear before returning to the lab where they had left the T.A.C.i.T. data. The Colonel's orders were for him and the entire team to stand down for a minimum of six hours. But he had a hunch about something and he wanted to investigate that hunch without the help of Rodney McKay. For one reason, he didn't want Rodney's intrusions for once. But the main reason being he didn't want anyone to know about his hunch if he was all wrong. If he was right, a lot of their questions would be answered. Not all of them, but most of them.

Radek entered the lab and went immediately to the laptop he had left earlier. As he opened and began to read through the information, he paused and looked around him. Radek sighed, relishing the solitude. He understood Rodney, better than most people. Rodney processed several things at once, connecting things, intersecting theories in his brain, all the while his mouth was running in several different directions. Radek was an internal processor! "Ha, a geek joke," he murmured. The Czech was much better able to think clearly in silence. The problem with Rodney was when Radek had something to offer he was barely ever able to verbalize it without McKay cutting him off. Colonel Carter understood that though and would often seek Radek's input when Rodney wasn't around.

Radek returned his attention back to the laptop and began his search for that one piece of elusive information that would confirm his hunch. He glanced at his watch, promising himself he would give himself one hour and then go to bed. At least he would be able to answer truthfully when the Colonel asked him in the morning if he got any rest, as long as she didn't ask how long.


	12. Chapter 12

_**Sorry for the mistakes in the last chapter. Wrote that under the influence of the flu. Hope this one is less confusing! Thanks for reading and the reviews! Under a blizzard warning so maybe I'll get some more updates out in the next couple of days.**_

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On her way to operations, Sam stopped at the infirmary. She noticed that the bed previously occupied by General O'Neill was empty. Sam approached Dr. Keller who stood at the foot of John Sheppard's bed, with Nurse Valerie McClain a recent arrival from the Earth. Looking up, the doctor dismissed Valerie and turned to Sam, offering her best attempt at a reassuring smile.

"All rested?" she asked, suspecting that her commanding officer had gotten less rest than she had. Keller used her physician's skills to do a quick visual assessment of Sam and made a mental note to give the Colonel a check up after this was all over. No matter the outcome.

Sam flashed a brief smile, knowing that Jennifer didn't need a truthful answer at the moment. Forestalling why she had come in, she asked, "Where's General O'Neill?"

Jennifer pointed behind her. "Dr. Lam is giving him a once over before clearing him for duty."

Sam's eyebrows arched in a question but words were cut short with the appearance of the General and Dr. Lam. Upon seeing Sam, Jack stood at attention and saluted. "Ready for duty, Ma'am." When Sam didn't respond right away, he relaxed his stance and said, "Ready to kick some replicator ass…asses..eh,…bugs…that's it…replicator bugs. Ma'am!"

Sam's lips twitched as she shook her head. She turned back to Jennifer.

"So, what's your plan with Colonel Sheppard as we launch our attack?"

Jennifer sighed and pulled up John's chart again on her datapad. "Well, we assume that as the Replicator Sheppard is attacked, our Colonel's body will react much the same way it did yesterday. This time, we're prepared." She stopped and the others could sense she was struggling with her decision. Glancing at Dr. Lam, who gave her a reassuring nod, Keller continued. "Before you send the first team through, we'll put John in a medically induced coma. This should protect him long enough until Replicator Sheppard is destroyed. Hopefully, his body will handle the stress of the attack."

Sam reached out and gave the doctor's arm a reassuring squeeze. "The first team leaves in 15 minutes. Will you be ready by then?"

"I'll start the medication now."

Sam and Jack left as both doctors turned their attention to their patient.

"You're sure you're up for this, General?" Sam asked. Jack turned and Sam saw that all-too familiar look in his eyes. That look that said "nobody messes with my team and gets away with it." Not to mention two galaxies. There would be no possible way for him to be sidelined. "I'll take that as a 'yes'," she said.

Ronon, Teyla, Major Lorne and Daniel were already on the platform dressed for battle. The first three would be the lead team through the gate on foot. They would be followed by the twelve Marines also ready and waiting as three person strike teams at one minute intervals. Carter, O'Neill and Jackson were going to bring up the rear. Three jumpers were waiting for deployment in the jumper bay, each with six team members aboard. The jumpers would lead the attack. Jack and Sam accepted their equipment from Lorne and began suiting up.

"Am I late?" Rodney was in the middle of adjusting his flak jacket as he joined the others on the platform.

Sam shook her head. "Rodney, I told you. I need you here."

Rodney started to protest. "I know what you said, but Zelenka can handle it. Where is he anyway? Anybody seen him this morning?" He started to hit his comlink but was stopped when someone grabbed his arm. It was General O'Neill's hand gripping his bicep with enough pressure to get his attention.

"I believe your C.O. gave you an order to stay put. Are you being deliberately insubordinate or just having trouble with your hearing?" Rodney went a little pale but his frustration compelled him to look Jack straight in the eye. He cleared his throat.

"General, sir, I'm sorry. I was not meaning to be insubordinate. It's just…ow." Rodney stopped, feeling the General's grip tighten a little more. Sam cleared her throat causing Jack's eyes to lose their lock on McKay and meet Sam's. Jack shrugged and let go.

Rodney looked pathetically at Sam while he rubbed his arm. "Sam,…Sheppard's my friend too, ya know. How can you expect me to stay here and do noth…?"

Sam cut him off. "You won't be doing nothing. The best way for you to be of help to John is to be our communication link. I want you to tell me if things are critical enough to warrant our retreat."

"Besides," Daniel added, "If we don't make it back, you're Sheppard's best hope, right?"

Rodney sighed. He had worked himself up for this confrontation all morning, determined he would be on the firing end of this battle. But they were right. Staying behind and doing what he could as a scientist was fighting for Sheppard as well. _Yeah. What had he been thinking anyway_?

"Are we ready to do this or not!" Ronon was done with the waiting.

"Clear the platform for the jumpers," Sam ordered and then signaled to operations for the gate to be activated. They watched as the horizon formed and the first jumper entered from the bay area. Just as Sam was ready for the first jumper to deploy a shout was heard.

"Wait!"

"Aggghhh!" Ronon roared, while O'Neill muttered "Oh for crying out loud." Everyone turned to see Dr. Radek Zelenka running down the stairs, and stopping in front of Colonel Carter. He was holding his laptop and fighting to control his breathing.

"Where the hell have you been?" Rodney shouted at him.

"What is it, Radek?" Sam snapped impatiently.

Zelenka took a big breath and blew out, calming himself. "I have discovered something in the T.A.C.i.T. data that will aid in destroying the replicators." He stopped to catch his breath again but before he could say anything else, there was another loud, primal roar coming from one angry Satedan. Ronon stalked over to Sam. "I'm not waiting any longer." Before anyone could stop him, Ronon ran at the gate and disappeared into the event horizon.

Sam yelled, "Teyla, Lorne. Follow him." She hit her comlink. "Jumper 1, you have a go. Jumpers 2 and 3, follow on your marks. Ground troops hold until my signal." She watched as her orders were carried out. Then, she turned her anger on Radek. Before she could say anything, Daniel interrupted.

"Radek, you found something?"

Zelenka didn't answer him. Instead, he looked directly at the Colonel. "Ma'am, I know you are angry. I am truly sorry. I woke up just now in the lab or I would have come to you sooner."

"Never mind, Radek. What is it?"

Sam could hear the sound of gunfire coming from off world through the comlink. She yanked it out of her ear so she wouldn't be distracted from the scientist's report. This had better be good, she thought.

"We won't be able to destroy the replicators with our guns. Or with the usual replicator weapons either. It won't work on Replicator Sheppard."

A murmur of disbelief erupted from the remaining troops. Sam motioned for their silence.

Rodney spoke. "That's not possible. That's how Replicator O'Neill was destroyed."

Radek shook his head. "I know, I know. But he was different. She made them different! I don't have time to explain. You need to bring them back. What they are doing is useless. They'll be out of ammunition and that Replicator and all that it has created will not be destroyed!" Zelenka was shaking and the sweat was starting to run down the sides of his face.

"Colonel Carter!" It was Evans shouting down to her from the Operations area. "Dr. Keller is calling you."

Sam shoved her comlink back into her ear. "Jennifer?"

"The coma didn't take. John's crashing."

"Stand down, everyone," she shouted over her shoulder as she took the stairs two at a time. McKay and Zelenka were on her heels. "Bring everybody back," she ordered and Evans moved to comply. The gate was shut down and then redialed. As they watched the returning puddle jumpers, Rodney tried to grab the laptop from Zelenka, but Radek would not release his grip. He turned on Rodney, letting loose a string of words from his native tongue. Rodney, shocked at Radek's outburst, stood back letting go of the computer.

"Rodney!" Zelenka took a handkerchief and wiped his face, shoving it back into his pocket. He sighed. "I am tired, and I need to explain my findings before you go trying to dismantle all the work I did last night."

"Where's the ground team," Sam barked at no one in particular.

"Colonel Carter, this is Teyla. Do your read?" There was an immense amount of static and the sound of gunfire over the channel threatened to drown out Teyla's voice.

"I read you Teyla. Your team is to stand down."

There was few moments pause. "I'm afraid that one of our team members is quite unwilling to stand down." More gunfire and more static. "Do you wish Major Lorne and myself to remain or to return to Atlantis?"

"Cease fire, Teyla. Tell Ronon, Sheppard's in trouble." She cast a sideways glance at Zelenka. "That's an order," she added. Sam knew that it would take a lot of convincing to stop Ronon. As far as Ronon knew, he was saving his friend.

"Sam!" It was the General calling up to her from the platform. He didn't say anything else but she knew by his look what he was suggesting. In affirmation, she watched as the General, Daniel and the remaining Marines rechecked their weapons, shouldering them at the ready.

Sam cleared her throat. To Teyla she said, "Remain there. I'm sending you backup." Once again, the gate was shut down and reopened. "Go in to watch the situation and use only defensive measures," she charged the teams. With nods from Jack and Daniel and 'yes, ma'am's' from the others, Sam watched as they disappeared through the gate. "Shut the gate," she ordered.

Sam pointed to her office and motioned for Rodney and Radek to meet her there. She punched the comlink. "Jennifer?"

There was no immediate answer. She was aware of the continued sound of off world gunfire and envisioned John's body being pummeled once again with a defibrillator and the chaotic activity of Dr. Keller and her team. She heard Jack's voice above the yells of the others. "Cease fire!" Gradually, the gun fire stopped. All she heard was static. Sam waited holding her breath dreading Dr. Keller's report.

"Colonel." It was Keller.

Sam closed her eyes. "Go ahead."

"He's stable. For now."


	13. Chapter 13

_**A special thanks to Shadows-of-Realm for pointing out a couple of things in the last Chapter. I take it as a compliment when someone reads my writing so closely and finds canon mistakes. I will say again, this syfy writing is very challenging. This chapter has me convinced it will be a long time before I write another one. Love the genre too much to muck it up but committed to finishing this one. Anyway, thanks for reading and as always, I appreciate the reviews.**_

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Sam turned to face Zelenka. "You have five minutes to explain to me why destroying Replicator Sheppard cannot be done the same way Replicator O'Neill was destroyed. And this had better be damn good enough to convince me."

Radek set his computer down at the nearest available station and pulled up his files from the T.A.C.i.T. data. Rodney and Sam leaned over his shoulder, willing the scientist to give a plausible explanation.

"I first noticed an anomaly in the data that we managed to gather from our General O'Neill when the T.A.C.i.T. was downloading the information from his brain. While we could translate it, there was one symbol that kept coming up." Radek pointed at the screen. At the same time, Rodney whined, "So what?" while Sam said, "What is it?"

Radek turned in his seat and looked directly at Sam. "It's a, what do you call it, a… a glitch!" The final word came out like an epiphany. Rodney couldn't stop the groan.

"A glitch? A glitch of what? That makes no sense whatsoever…"

Sam placed a hand on Rodney's shoulder and said, "Let him finish."

Radek continued. "I've seen this symbol before. I've seen it in some of the Ancient databases here on Atlantis. It is a symbol that works the same way as an x or a y in an algebraic equation works for us. When we don't know what something is we place an x or a y in until we know what the answer is." He looked at Sam as if to say, "Now you know what I'm getting at," but there was only confusion on Sam's face. They both turned when they heard a "huh," coming from Rodney who was now staring at the screen of Radek's laptop.

"Let me make this as brief as I can," Radek started and Sam added, "You've got three and half minutes."

Radek took in a big breath, blew it out and began. "Replicator O'Neill could not replicate. As close as I can tell, the Replicator that created him, Replicator Carter, created him before Replicator Sheppard. In doing so, she experimented with the Ancient gene much the same way the Ancients did here on Atlantis, many times before actually putting it to work. With Replicator O'Neill she was able to design the gene so that it could operate over long distances…"

"Over two galaxies, long distance?" Rodney interjected.

"Yes. But in order for the Replicator to do that, her design had a flaw. It could not replicate and make bugs like normal human replicators do."

Sam asked, "Are you sure?"

Radek rubbed a hand over his forehead, then turned back to the computer and brought up another screen. "I'm almost positive. Because, I was able to figure out that Replicator Sheppard was able to replicate but because of the necessary changes to allow for him to do that, he was not able to communicate over long distances."

Rodney gave one of his "O come on" grimaces. "O really. And how in the world did you come up with that theory? Huh? Did Sheppard tell you that without being hooked up to the T.A.C.i.T.? Come on, Zelenka!"

Radek whirled on Rodney. "As a matter of fact, he did." Radek brought up another page of data and started pointing. "These are recordings of the 'conversations' between the two Human Replicators. I spent all night translating them. It seems the two figured out how they were different." Radek stopped and to Sam and Rodney's surprise there was a telltale blush.

"What is it?" Sam asked.

"Well," Radek began after clearing his throat. "It seems Replicator O'Neill was a bit…disturbed that he was…how do you say, sterile?"

Sam shook her head refusing to think about that at the moment. She remembered how eerily Replicator Carter seemed to have some of the same personality traits and emotions as her. She didn't need distracted thinking about what Jack's reaction would be about this latest little tidbit.

Rodney shouted impatiently. "Well this is all well and good but how did you come up with the idea that we can't destroy Replicator Sheppard?"

"Because they 'talk' about it, right here!" Radek took a breath and turned to Sam for strength, ignoring Rodney pushing his way into the laptop. "Colonel Carter. It seems in creating Replicator Sheppard, there was another design fault. At least we see it as a fault. I'm sure Replicator Carter thought it made her creation perfect." He noticed Sam looking at her watch and he got himself back on track. "Not one that we could possibly know about before now because this human replicator, Replicator Sheppard, is immune to projectile weapons and even a replicator disrupter gun. In order to sacrifice the long distance communication, Replicator Carter changed the gene so that the nano technology is melded together in types of cells that are more closely related to human cells than in any other human replicator. Or Asuran for that matter."

"Oh my god, he's right," Rodney said as he scrolled through the text on the laptop. "And these cells are each enhanced with the ancient gene in such a way that this human replicator is like, like…"

"Superman?" Sam offered.

Radek's eyes lit up. "Yes! And we have to destroy him with kryptonite!"

Rodney frowned. "As much as I love reading a good super hero comic book as the next guy, what in the hell do you suggest we use as kryptonite against this human replicator?"

Radek stood up and Sam could see his hands trembling as he took out his handkerchief to wipe his brow once again. He cleared his throat and pointed at the laptop with its screen full of the T.A.C.i.T. data.

"Our Colonel Sheppard is the kryptonite. We have to take him to the planet where the Human Replicator is."

Sam's face drained of color and Rodney started yelling. "What! Hell no! Are you crazy?" Sam saw the reaction of the Operations personnel and motioned for Rodney and Zelenka to follow her into her office. Rodney's mouth was running and his face had taken on a scarlet tone while Radek sank into a chair facing Sam's desk. Sam poured out two glasses of water, handed one to Radek and sat one on her desk in front of Rodney. "Sit, McKay," she ordered, raising her voice so he would hear her over his ranting.

While Rodney slurped on the glass of water, Sam leaned on her desk and turned to Zelenka who was trying to avoid eye contact with her. Finally, he looked up at her and whispered, "You know Colonel, I would not suggest this if I thought there was any other way to…"

"You're nuts, that's what you are," Rodney gasped, slamming the empty glass on the desk and plopping himself in another chair. "You are certifiable!" He paused, bringing his hand up to his chest and then looked up at Sam. When he met her eyes, he decided that maybe he should shut up long enough to hear what Radek had to say. He hated when Sam looked at him like that. Like she was in command and he had gone too far.

Sam turned back to look at Zelenka. Radek recognized the look in her eye as well. His interpretation though was different than Rodney's. She trusted him and was waiting for him to spill it all out before making a judgment. Radek appreciated Carter so much as a leader. She was a scientist too and was always willing to listen to him and the other scientists as well as Rodney.

"I must qualify, that this is my hypothesis based on my findings in the data. I cannot guarantee this will work." He stopped and took another drink. "Go on," Sam encouraged. Rodney moved to speak and without looking at him, Sam raised her hand, telling him to keep it to himself. She kept the hand there while Radek talked.

"My theory is that the only way to destroy this Replicator is for him to be brought into a battle he cannot win. Physically, we cannot destroy him. Oh, the guns and weapons can slow him and his replicators down, but the ancient gene acts like a healing device, much the way General O'Neill could with the Ancient database in his head. But mentally, there is an anomaly in his replicator and gene design that makes him vulnerable and eventually, I believe, can be used to destroy him."

Sam shook her head. "I'm not sure I follow you." She heard Rodney clearing his throat and made another motion with her hand. She heard McKay sigh, but kept her hand in front of his face.

Radek continued. "I believe that the Human Replicator is in communication with Colonel Sheppard. Replicator Sheppard is trying to find out our location. But he can only communicate with Colonel Sheppard. He is incapable of getting inside the brain of anyone other than Sheppard. Again, a critical flaw in the usual design. If we can get Sheppard to somehow use that against the Replicator then I believe we can destroy it."

Rodney couldn't take it anymore. He jumped up, ignoring Sam's hand in his face and began pacing the office. "Oh my god, Dr. Freud! There is no way in hell your little hypothesis holds any iota of sense and why would we want to take our Sheppard to him! Hmmm? If they are communicating right now, why can't we just have Sheppard mind zap him from here? Of all the stupid…"

It was Zelenka's turn to jump up. He stepped in front of Rodney and grabbed him by both arms. "I don't care what you think about me Rodney, but I have spent the last 6 hours working on this until I finally fell asleep at my desk! I was awakened only because of the nightmare of holding Colonel Sheppard dying in my arms and seeing the rest of our people attacked and eaten by thousands of replicators!" Embarrassed by his outburst, Radek let Rodney go and whipped around to face Sam.

"Colonel," Radek slowed his breathing down and looked into the eyes of Atlantis' Commanding Officer. "From my understanding, Replicator Sheppard has a design flaw much like the Replicator Fifth that SG1 came into contact with."

Sam's face showed confusion. "What do you mean? His 'flaw' was he was not like the other Replicators. He seemed to have emotional traits like compassion, trust, and even…" Sam paused not wanting to remember her days trapped with Fifth on his ship. But she went on. "Affection. How could you discover flaws like that in this data," she finished waving a hand at the laptop data.

Radek turned once again to his computer. "Again, the 'conversations' between Replicator Sheppard and Replicator O'Neill. They were comparing notes, as it were, on how they were different. Replicator O'Neill revealed very little that would indicate an understanding of human attributes such as emotions or critical thinking even. They were there but not intense. But Replicator Sheppard is much different. He has heightened emotions and character traits." Radek stopped finding it hard to explain his deductions. "It's the things he would say that were quite like our Sheppard. He's always plotting like, laying out military strategy. Then there are indications that he was tired, hungry, thirsty. There is one 'conversation' where he mentions he would like to disregard the mission, watch some football, listen to Johnny Cash and get his fill of nachos and beer."

Sam slowly walked around her desk and sat in her chair. She placed her hands together and rested her head against them. Her mind took her back to her first confrontation with Fifth. He had been so…human. The other human replicators had determined there was a flaw in him. But that flaw had allowed her team to make their escape. She remembered her part in it, manipulating him, lying to Fifth, and later the guilt she had felt from the ruse. Two years later when she had been captured by Fifth she had finally gained her freedom when she had convinced him that she didn't love him. Like a human, Fifth was obsessed with her enough to create a Replicator Carter. And now, they were still experiencing the fallout of being deceived yet again by a human replicator.

"Sam," Rodney's voice interrupted her thoughts. "You are not seriously considering this, are you? Hasn't John been through enough?"

Before Radek could come to his own defense, Sam looked up at the scientist. "Can't we do this long distance? Why is it important for John to go to the planet? I don't even know if he can physically take gate travel."

Radek sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. "I don't know. I know that only John Sheppard will know how this human replicator thinks. I know that he is the only one who can make contact with him. It just seems to me we would be better able to control the situation on that planet. Maybe if the Colonel can talk with him directly, there would be less strain on the Colonel's mind and body?" Radek shrugged his shoulders and his exhaustion started to retake him. He sat down once again and reached for his glass of water.

Sam looked up at a quiet knock on the doorframe. It was Sgt. Campbell.

"Sorry to interrupt ma'am. But the gate has been activated and there's an incoming message. It's General O'Neill."

"Thanks, Sgt. I'll be right there."

Sam stood. As she walked to the door she stopped and turned to the two scientists. "Go to the infirmary and check on John's status. Tell Lam and Keller what you just told me. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Radek stood and placed the empty glass on the desk. He picked up the laptop and started for the door and felt the brush of a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Rodney looking his normal awkward self when he was trying to say something he didn't want to.

"Radek, I, uh…"

Radek sighed. "It's okay, Rodney."

Rodney nodded vaguely then made an "after you gesture" at the door. The two scientists headed towards the infirmary and what they knew would be a tough go at convincing two doctors of their plan for their critical patient.


	14. Chapter 14

**I didn't give up. Just a long time coming. Thanks for sticking with me. Hope to finish this story in the next few days. Thanks for sticking with me. R & R!**

**_Chapter 14_**

"General? What's your status?"

General O'Neill quickly gave Sam the run down on their unsuccessful attempts at destroying the Replicators. He also reported that their ammunition was diminishing and seemed to have little to no effect on the mechanical demons. "Our weapons slow them down but don't destroy them. I got a feeling they've managed a new little trick with their construction. "

Sam sighed as she realized that at least part of Radek's theory was correct. Quickly, she gave the General a rundown of Zelenka's hypotheses, ending with the idea of sending John to the planet.

"Sam." Daniel had been listening. Something was niggling at his memory but he couldn't bring clarity to it. A distant flash of Replicator Carter hit him as Sam explained the conversations Zelenka had translated.

O'Neill had turned to Jackson, waiting for him to go on, but instead saw that his friend had that faraway-trying-to-remember-while –"gone ancient" look on his face.

Jack cleared his throat, keeping a wary eye on Daniel. "Sam, the reason I called was to tell you that things are at a standstill here. For some reason, the little bugs have retreated from our position and there's no sign of Sheppard's creepy look alike. So, just hang on before you do anything with our Colonel, okay."

"Any casualties, General?" Sam questioned.

"Negative. Well, unless you count the big guy. Oh, he's not injured except maybe his pride. I've got Major Lorne and Teyla…uh, restrain-…well, let's just say they are requesting he take a break, when he ignored my order to stand down." The General looked over his right shoulder where Ronon was sprawled spread eagle on his stomach with both Lorne and Teyla sitting on his back and backside, respectively. It looked like he had stopped trying to throw them off his back. Jack's attention was drawn back to Daniel whose face had begun to get a gray look to it.

"Daniel, you okay?"

"I need to go back to Atlantis." Daniel rubbed his hands across his forehead, with his eyes closed in concentration.

Jack's eyebrows shot up in question. "But we were having so much fun."

Daniel shook his head, half at Jack and half at trying to make sense of his fuzzy memories. It had something to do with the time he had been captured by Replicator Carter during the Battle at Dakara. "Jack, do you remember during Dakara, and you were at the SGC and there were a few minutes where all the replicators froze?"

Jack looked stunned. "How could you know that? You weren't there?"

Daniel managed a flicker of a smile and said, "I read the reports."

"Ah."

"I think_ I _made that happen," Daniel said. "I was able to fight back with Replicator Carter's control over the replicators with my mind. Maybe I can go back and help Sheppard do the same thing. We wouldn't have to bring him here, further risking his life."

Sam's voice came. "How can you help, Daniel?"

"Hook me up to the T.A.C.i.T. with Sheppard so I can communicate with him."

There was a long pause. "General?" Sam's voice asked. O'Neill looked at Daniel. "You sure about this?" Daniel simply shrugged. After another pause, Jack said, "Daniel thinks it's worth a try." There was a humorless chuckle from Atlantis' commander. "It might keep my two doctors from forgetting their Hippocratic Oath as well. Apparently they were not thrilled with the idea of the Colonel travelling to the planet." Unbeknownst to the away team, two very chagrined and red-faced scientists hovered near her after facing the wrath of Lam and Keller upon suggesting the moving of their patient.

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Sam had reconvened the troops in the gate room and had gone over the strategy which was essentially the same as it had been before Radek's interruption and Ronon's charge through the gate. "Right now, things are quiet. Our best guess is that will change quickly once we begin our work here with Colonel Sheppard."

"Ma'am, with all due respect," said one of the Marines, "what are we supposed to do if the replicators start moving again?" Apparently word had spread quickly upon the return of O'Neill and Daniel about the ineffectiveness of their weaponry.

"I was just about to get to that," Sam said. She turned and faced all of the troops. "While it is true that your weapons have no lasting effect on the replicators, I'm asking you to defend yourselves with all you've got. Hopefully, it will give us enough time to do what we can from here." She paused before going on. "Your task is to prevent any of the replicators or the human replicator from escaping to Atlantis. Protect yourselves and protect the gate. Understood?" There were nods and "Yes, Ma'am's" as the troops readied themselves for deployment. "Major Lorne and his team are waiting for your arrival," Carter continued. "You'll take your orders from the Major when you get there." With that final directive, she nodded to Chuck who dialed the gate. She watched until every last soldier had disappeared into the event horizon.

"I'll be in the infirmary," she said into her com.

As Sam walked the corridor she tried not to think about her last orders. If this thing with Daniel and John failed, she was essentially giving all of those who left for the planet a death sentence. She also knew that every single one of them knew that as they travelled that wormhole. What had she been thinking when she took this assignment? The excitement and giddiness of being the commander of Atlantis had boosted the adrenaline of her scientist side to heights she had never known before. To be in the middle of one of the greatest explorations in human history was more than anything she could have ever dreamed of. That side of her had outweighed the realization of the enormity and responsibility of being military commander over men and women she knew well and some she would only know by name. Now, she had just sent a small contingent of them to what could possibly be their very last mission.

Suddenly, an overwhelming feeling of nausea stopped her in her tracks. The guilt she thought she absolved herself of began to wrap its steely claws around her heart once again. "If only she had not betrayed Fifth, if only she had seen she was being played by Replicator Carter, if only…" Sam found herself leaning up against a wall of the corridor, her forehead leaning into the coolness of the wall. She tried to slow her breathing down, tried desperately to rein in her thoughts, tried to focus. She placed both hands on the wall intending to push herself up but couldn't as her arms started to shake. She turned, placing her back against the wall, breathing through in through her mouth and out through her nose. Exhaustion and stress were beginning to take their toll. She mentally kicked herself remembering the last time she had eaten was with Jack and Daniel the evening before. Sleeping had been out of the question. She had spent the evening tossing and turning, finally giving it up to go to her office and went over once again the morning's military strategies.

"Hey, you okay?"

Startled, Sam turned quickly at the quiet voice beside her. The movement caused a brief wave of dizziness and a hand reached out to steady her. She looked up into Jack's worried eyes and managed a brief smile, forcing herself to regain her composure.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired, I guess." She started to go but Jack's hand caught her elbow and stopped her. He didn't say anything and at that moment, she wasn't sure she wanted him to. She was on her emotional edge where her body and spirit were fighting for control over her duty as commander of Atlantis.

Jack knew what Sam was putting herself through mentally. He had worked with her long enough to know just about everything about her. How she ticked. Not just as a scientist and as a soldier but also as a human being. He knew she was beating off old demons at the moment as well as dealing with those things about the job that no military leader in their right mind felt good about doing. He'd been at it a lot longer than she had but that didn't make it any easier. Anytime you put your team in danger, another chip into the soul was chiseled away. He hated seeing it happen to Sam. Especially, to Sam.

Time for a pep talk, Jack thought. He took Sam by both shoulders and put on his best hard-assed General look. It was a pretty feeble attempt because his voice betrayed him. Instead of the bark of a superior officer, the gentle tones of a friend came through his words. "This is going to work, Colonel. We've got two of the best scientists, two damned fine doctors, one stubborn gone-Ancient archaeologist and one tough as nails Ancient gene-endowed Colonel on this. What chance does a Superman Replicator have against that kind of team?"

Sam silently thanked the heavens for this man who stood in front of her. Somewhere over the years as they had worked side by side, he had become her source of strength when her strength was depleted. He was a hard man to understand at times for there were dark places in his soul that even she had not wanted to explore. But he was a constant. Always there. Always a friend. Someone she could trust. Someone she knew would give his life for her or any member of his team. And she would do the same. Right now, she was more than aware Jack could read her thoughts and knew what she was thinking. He was there, helping her put those demons aside for the time being and willing to push her on to the task at hand. Even though Jack O'Neill pretended to be stupid, he always seemed to know the right thing to say when push came to shove.

"No chance in hell," she responded to his question.

"Then let's go end this once and for all." Jack drew himself up, trying to appear to be the superior officer he was. Sam found herself feeling steadied both physically and mentally by his presence as they turned to head to the infirmary. Just before they reached it she heard Jack say under his breath, "Then we're going to have to see about getting you into bed." She risked a glance at him. He was stone-faced except for the slight twinkle in his eyes. Yep, he always knew the right thing to say.


	15. Chapter 15

_**Thanks for the encouragement to keep going with this story. For better or worse, here it is. R & R! Thanks.**_

#########

"_This is your final chance, John."_

_John tried to turn away from his look alike. He realized now the pain intensified every time the guy showed up. This nightmare was unending and he had no idea how to wake up. If only he could._

"_Your friends are going to die. They are trying to destroy me but they will never succeed. My creator made sure I could not be destroyed."_

_My friends? Which friends was he talking about? No, it was just a nightmare. The pain was coming again. He turned to face the voice and the face. As he did the face changed. He was no longer looking at his reflection. _

"_Elizabeth?"_

_Elizabeth Weir stood in front of him. _

"_No, you're dead. This isn't you."_

"_John, how can you say that? It's me, Elizabeth. You have to save them."_

"_NO!" The pain increased and John felt himself reaching in a futile grasp of his head._

_The fake Elizabeth screeched at him. "You couldn't save me but you can save them. Just tell me how to get to Atlantis."_

_John's mind was fighting off the emotions of guilt and fear. Why was Elizabeth here? She seemed so real. He tried to reach out to her but he couldn't make his hand move. But she was gone, right? He had fought for her, tried desperately to save her. Just like he had tried to save Ford. He hadn't saved Elizabeth. That's right. He hadn't saved her so how could she be standing in front of him. No, whoever or whatever was doing this to him, he would not let it win. Something deep inside told him not to give in, not to say where Atlantis was._

_Suddenly, Elizabeth's face was harsh, filled with rage. Her eyes flashed and the image started to waver. Aiden Ford stood in front of him. Not the Ford who had come with him from Earth but the half-Wraith Ford. The drugged out delusional Ford. He was screaming at him, "John Sheppard! You will tell me where Atlantis is or they will all die! I will release my brethren to crush them all." As he screamed at him, the pain renewed its vice on his head. _

_Ah, hell. I can't do this anymore. Just let me die._

_###################_

Sam stood over Zelenka's right shoulder and O'Neill over his left. The three of them were between two beds; one holding Colonel John Sheppard and the other one holding Daniel Jackson. A memory disk was on each man's temple with the wires connecting them to the laptop on Radek's lap centered between the draping wires. Daniel had been hooked up to monitors to register his vitals on the insistence of Lam and Keller. Rodney placed himself at the foot of Sheppard's bed with his own laptop, networked into Zelenka's.

Sam looked over at Daniel. His smile gave her reassurance as he reached out for her hand. She took it and returned the gentle squeeze he offered. "This will work," he whispered. She nodded then turned quickly back to the laptop screen. Dr. Lam leaned in to talk to Daniel, telling him that she would "pull the plug" the minute he got into any trouble. Sam grimaced as he heard Daniel ask her to wait until it was "really serious trouble."

"Doctor?" Jennifer's head came up from her position at the Colonel's bedside to look over at General O'Neill and in response to his one word question, she nodded. "Ready." Zelenka fought off a shudder as he felt the General's hand on his shoulder and heard his command, "Let's do this." His shaking hands moved over the keyboard as he relayed commands to the T.A.C.i.T.

############

"**Hey. How's it going?" **

_Oh God, there was someone else here now._

"**John! Can you hear me? Don't give in, don't listen to him!"**

_This can't be happening. Elizabeth is dead. Ford is gone. So help me, if Carson shows up…._

"_John, give me the location of Atlantis and I will free you from your pain." _

_That's it. I'm giving up, John thought. Because I must have gotten into some kind of mind-tripping substance on that last recon or I'm dead and this is hell. I don't care anymore. I just need it to end. _

"**Don't listen to him, John."**

_There was that other voice again. That voice was familiar. Someone else was in this nightmare with him. John turned. Yep. He was on some kind of acid trip. "Jackson?" _

_Daniel was standing there with his hands in his pockets and looking all around. Then he reached out a hand and placed it on John's shoulder. _**"I'm here to help."**

_That's odd. How come I can feel Jackson's hand on my shoulder? All part of the trip I guess. Suddenly, the pain took on new force as John tried to focus. This was so not happening. Why couldn't it all just stop!_

"**John! Listen to me. I think I know how you can beat this. Talk to him."**

"_I can't. He wants me to reveal Atlantis' location. I can't do that, Jackson."_

_The vision of Daniel paused. He knew this was a different battle than the one he had faced with Replicator Carter. This was John Sheppard fighting with John Sheppard. John didn't have any of the advantages that Daniel had, like being ascended and all. There had to be a weakness. Radek had explained to him how much like the Replicator Sheppard was like John in his thinking and his… _

"_I'm losing it here, Jackson. I can't take much more. Are they safe? Is everyone safe? Tell me!"_

_That was it. Colonel John Sheppard was a military man. A man of duty and honor. But, John Sheppard had a weakness. His friends. He would do everything he could to save them._

"**John, talk to him about them. Make him understand your pain and fear for Teyla and Ronon and Rodney all the others. Turn him against what he's been created to do."**

"_How do I do that?"_

"**He has some of the same connections as you do. You just have to push him hard on his emotional side."**

"_Who is this guy, Daniel?"_

_Oh my god, Daniel could have kicked himself. John had no idea what they were dealing with. He quickly explained to the Colonel who the Replicator was and everything they knew ending with why he was here to help._

_John still wasn't sure how this was working. Some kind of machine Rodney and Radek put together had him talking with Jackson all the while some human replicator was torturing him with pain and his friends and Atlantis, hell all of the Pegasus galaxy was counting on him to beat the replicator by __**talking**__?_

_The pain was increasing again. "You talk to him. I hear you're good at that."_

_Daniel shook his head. _**"He doesn't know I'm here. I'm linked to you. You can do this John."**

_John let out a mirthless chuckle. He was so not good at this. Putting his feelings into words, sharing how he felt about others. He just couldn't. It was safer to keep that kind of stuff bottled up. Jackson had no idea what he was asking him to do. Where the hell is my gun?_

"_John. Who are you talking to?" Sheppard was back._

_#######_

"He's made contact," Radek whispered.

"How can you tell?" asked Sam, beating the General to the punch.

As Radek turned the laptop screen towards the Colonel, giving her full view of what was being 'said', Rodney mumbled, "It's right there. See it?" His fingers were nervously pointing at the screen. O'Neill's eyebrows raised as his blank look tried to see over both scientists' shoulders.

"Why is it in Ancient?" He knew that much. The data spilling out was not English; or Croatian for that matter. As McKay, Zelenka and Carter started to explain why Replicator Carter used the Ancient language for the data input of her creations, O'Neill held up a hand. "Never mind."

Carolyn was anxiously keeping an eye on the monitors surrounding Daniel, while Jennifer stared at those of Sheppard's. Both physicians took note that the monitors seemed to be telling them that things were not improving for the Colonel and things were not declining for Daniel. Their eyes met across the span of the two beds and reassuring nods were given.

######

"Did you hear something?" said Ronon.

Major Lorne and Teyla strained to hear what had drawn the Satedan's attention. The three were positioned nearest the gate with the newly arrived contingent of Marines flanking them on three sides. The best guess was if the human replicator and his minions were going to attack it would come from the other side of the gate where they had last retreated. Just as Lorne was to respond to Ronon's question with the negative, Teyla reached out and grabbed his forearm. "They are returning."

Major Lorne looked towards the gate and failed to stifle a groan. Silhouetted within the gate, stood Replicator Sheppard, surrounded by his bug creations. The bugs had grown in both size and quantity. Before he even gave the order, Lorne heard the weapons being cocked into readiness. He stood and turned to address the troops.

"I'm only going to say this once. Fire only when threatened. Save your ammunition as much as possible. We are here as a distraction. Your job is to stay alive as long as you can while giving Atlantis time to finish this thing. Understood?"

########

"**Talk to him, John."**

"_What do I say? I've told him that there's no way in hell I'm giving Atlantis up. Now, you want me to make nice with the guy?"_

"**Yes. Talk to yourself. Remind him of who you are and what makes you tick. Try to get him to understand that your friends are important to him."** _Daniel stopped. This was really hard to explain._ **"He thinks like you. He has the same kind of passions that you do. That's his weakness. Turn him against himself and his mission that he was created for."**

_John, still wishing he had a gun in this nightmare acid trip from hell, turned to face his counterpart. Where to start? Teyla?_

_Immediately, Teyla Emmagan stood in front of him. Ah, I see. He's reacting to what I'm thinking. Maybe this won't be so hard after all._

"_John, I'm lost and I can't find my way back to At…"_

"_Teyla! You're safe. Thank God!" He should get an Oscar nomination for this, thought John._

"**That's it. Keep going,"**_ Daniel encouraged._

"_I think I can get a handle on this," John responded._

"_Who are you talking to, John," asked the image of Teyla._

"_I'm talking to you. I've missed you so much. Do you know how important you are to me? Ever since I met you on Athosia, I've had this ….connection to you. This bond that I don't think can ever be…"_

_Teyla's face filled with disdain and anger. "Tell me how to get back to Atlantis, John. I am lost!"_

"_Now, Teyla. Just think real hard and it will come to you. You know how to get back. And when you do, I'll make us a big bowl of popcorn and we can watch last year's Fiesta Bowl game together. We'll even have Ronon and Sam, and hell, Rodney can join us."_

"**Good, bring in everybody,"**_ Daniel coached._

_Teyla's image started to waver. Then it solidified and it was angry. "Who is it that is with you? Why is he here? I will make you tell me how to get to Atlantis, John!"_

"**Ooww, what was that?"**

"_Daniel? Are you okay?" Getting no response, John refocused on the Replicator. "Teyla, you are important to me. You have become a good friend…no a close friend. I couldn't bear to see you hurt or bear to lose you."_

_The image of Teyla disappeared and was replaced with Replicator Sheppard. He was angry._

"_You're back. So how are __**our **__friends? You haven't hurt any of them, have you? How about Ronon? Is he okay? You've got to hand it to Chewie. He has saved my ass…our asses so many times. And despite the guy's limited vocabulary, I've grown…I mean you and I have grown quite fond of …."_

_Replicator Sheppard reached out to grab John by the throat. "You will stop this, now! I have been created to find Atlantis and to consume it. You will not stop me!"_

"**Oh crap,"** _Daniel gasped, reaching for his throat, trying to get some air. _**"This can't be good."**

#######

Beep, beep, beep.

"What was that?" Sam and Jack asked at the same time. Their eyes went directly to Dr. Lam as she looked at one of the monitors hooked up to Daniel. When she didn't answer, Jack cleared his throat and repeated the question as Carolyn placed a stethoscope on Daniel's chest. Ignoring the General, she flicked a penlight in Daniel's eyes as she forced open each eyelid. She stood up from her bent over position and pinched the bridge of her nose. "He's comatose."

Beep, beep, beep.

All heads pivoted to the new alarm coming from Sheppard's monitors as Jennifer leaned over her patient. "Shit," mumbled Sam as she looked back at Zelenka's monitor. She felt Jack's hand being placed on her shoulder and was grateful but the tension in her did not ease.

"What the hell is going on?"came a voice, raspy from disuse.

Dr. Keller failed to control a startled gasp as she looked into the open eyes of Colonel John Sheppard.

"Oh my God!" Rodney's cry spoke for all of them.

John's eyes had closed almost immediately after they had opened. "John? Can you hear me?" asked Keller. Everyone held their breath as she quickly examined Sheppard and watched all the vital signs being reported. Finally, she looked up and shook her head. "Whatever that was, it didn't last. He's down again."

"Maybe it's a good sign, though." Rodney said. He almost regretted making his observation out loud seeing the reaction he was getting from the stunned onlookers. Then he looked at O'Neill who had that "I'm listening, go on" look on his face. "If Daniel is getting through, and is not out of it, but Sheppard makes a limited appearance after being under for what …days…then it certainly seems that throwing Dr. Jackson into the mix has changed something, right?"

Jack turned to Sam, who looked at both doctors. She could tell that Keller and Lam were not exactly pleased with what was going on but they weren't going to deny that something new was taking place.

Zelenka cleared his throat. "Do you want me to stop?" Sam waited for a response from the doctors. "Keep going," Jennifer offered. "For now," Carolyn added.

"No, don't stop." Sam squeezed Radek's shoulder and turned her attention back to the laptop screen.


	16. Chapter 16

_**Sorry this took so long. I'm almost done. Thanks for reading and please, I love to hear what you think, good and bad.**_

Chapter 16

"_Jackson, get out of here!"_

_Daniel was struggling for breath hardly believing what was happening. The more Sheppard struggled against the Replicator's grasp, the more Daniel felt the agonizing pain of not being able to breathe._

"_**I don't…think…I can."**_

_Dammit. This has got to end. The pain took on new meaning for John. This entire nightmare finally became clear to him. It was up to him to beat this Replicator and not only save Jackson but Atlantis as well. Jackson said I had to tap into my feelings, huh? Well, anger is as good a place to start as any._

"_Okay, listen to me. You are really starting to piss me off. You can mess with __**me**__ all you want, but you need to let my friend go."_

_A smirk was on the Replicator's face. "I am in control John. I will do what I have to do to finish this mission."_

_The pain was excruciating and Jackson was on his last breath. Seeing Jackson in trouble made Colonel John Sheppard all the more determined._

"_I can't let you do that. And you know what? Even I know when I've lost control. And that would be you right now. You see you had to go after Daniel here because you knew I would only gain strength by having him here. You and I don't like to be alone. Oh, we tell everyone else we are loners but you and I know deep down how important it is to have people who care about you. I've got you figured out, you self-absorbed, maniacal, software for a brain, moron! You know my…our …weakest point is the people we care about!_

_Replicator Sheppard's face lost its smirk. The entire face of the Replicator went slack as the eyes stared into John's. Slowly, the pain was lessening. John heard Jackson gasp as the Replicator's hand left John's throat._

"_Jackson. You okay?" There was no answer except the deep gasps for air as Daniel struggled to breathe._

"_Daniel Jackson is here?"_

_John didn't quite know how to take the question. Might as well go with the truth. That's what he would want, right?_

"_Yeah, Daniel Jackson. You remember him, don't you? Doctor of archaeology, explorer, ascended, authority on the Ancients…._

"… _pain in the ass." The Replicator deadpanned. John and Daniel both stopped, stunned by the comment. Finally, Daniel broke the silence. __**"That sounds like something Jack would…"**_

"_Jack O'Neill called Dr. Jackson a pain in the ass."_

_#################_

"Colonel Carter, Dr. Jackson's vitals are stabilizing."

Sam looked up at Dr. Lam's voice. "That's good, right?" she asked. Before Carolyn could answer, Dr. Keller spoke from her position at the bedside of Colonel Sheppard. "So are Colonel Sheppard's. For the first time since this started, I might add."

Campbell's voice came through the comlink. "Colonel Carter. Our troops are being attacked by the Replicators on the planet. Major Lorne reports no casualties and they are employing only defensive maneuvers."

"Thank you, Sergeant, keep me posted." Sam was ashamed she had almost forgotten about her people on the planet as her thoughts strayed to Major Lorne and the troops.

Sam's attention was drawn back to the infirmary as Zelenka and McKay became animated. Rodney crossed over to peer at Zelenka's screen while Radek glanced at McKay's. Jack jumped back out of the way and tried to comprehend what was being said as the two scientists babbled on about what they were seeing on the screens.

The air was pierced with a sharp whistle. The doctors looked at the General, slightly annoyed with his tactics but thankful for the building intensity between McKay and Zelenka to be silenced. "What's all the excitement about boys?" Jack asked, attempting to look as menacing as possible. Sam covered her mouth in an attempt to hide her amusement as Rodney and Radek both paled at Jack's glare.

"Well, General," Rodney cleared his throat. "It looks like Sheppard is getting through to the Replicator."

"Yes, it appears that the three are engaged in a conversation about something other than the location of Atlantis," added Radek.

Jack's eyebrows rose. "Oh, yeah? So what are they talking about?"

Sam caught the subtle glance the two scientists made at each other as if to say, "You tell him." Rodney, again clearing his throat, glanced at Sam and then looked directly at O'Neill. "You…sir. They are talking about you."

###########

"Lorne! We can't keep this up much longer!" Ronon was reloading amid the shouts and gunfire aimed at the advancing replicators. The little buggers would advance within 500 yards of the gate and then retreat. The Human Replicator still stood at the gate, like a stone sentry. Some of the replicators were being destroyed, only to rebuild and begin to advance again.

"It is as if they know we will not destroy them," Teyla offered as she too stopped to reload.

Major Lorne stopped to wipe a sleeve across his forehead, the sweat threatening to interfere with his vision. "We have our orders!" he shouted back. Lorne looked behind him and saw that the rest of the personnel, although following orders, were not too keen at fighting this unending battle. They were men trained to do a job that always had an end in sight. Victory or defeat; nothing in between. If different orders from Atlantis didn't come soon, Lorne was not sure how much longer it would be before defensive measures would turn to the offensive. Just as he was beginning to consider the consequences of rescinding the defensive front, there came an eerie silence just below the sound of the reports of P90's. He looked up towards the stargate. The Human Replicator was holding out his hand towards the rest of the replicators.

"Hold your fire!" Lorne shouted. The bugs were frozen in their places. Replicator Sheppard turned and looked straight into Major Lorne's eyes. The silence was eerie.

Ronon ran up and dropped next to Lorne's prone figure on the rise. Teyla came up on his right.

"What the hell is going on?" Ronon asked.

Teyla looked at the Major and Ronon and a faint smile lit up her face. "Perhaps Dr. Jackson is making headway on Atlantis."

#################

_"I miss him."_

_John was so confused. "Daniel?" He asked his look alike._

_"No. I miss Jack O'Neill."_

_**"Huh. This is different." **__John looked at Daniel not sure where to go from here. "Okay, now what do we do?"_

_Before Daniel could answer, the Replicator started talking, more to himself than to an audience. John and Daniel listened._

_"The creator made us for a mission. We were to find Atlantis and continue our species. We were made to finish our mission together. O'Neill has been destroyed. I have to finish the mission alone."_

_"Soooo, you're lonely?" John felt stupid for asking. This was a stupid machine right. He looked at Daniel for reassurance. Jackson just shrugged. __**"Go for it."**_

_The Replicator turned towards John. "I enjoyed his companionship. I especially enjoyed his stories. He talked to me about his friends. The one called Teal'c he seemed to like a lot but was intimidated by his strength and wisdom. He was very fond of Daniel Jackson even though he said he was a pain in the ass."_

_John looked to see Daniel's reaction. Jackson was smiling but was also deep in thought._

_"Samantha Carter. He was in love with her. But he couldn't do anything about it. He was confused by that. Our creator was Samantha Carter." The Replicator stopped. John thought it surreal as he watched his mirror image processing memories and thoughts through that mechanical brain._

_John jumped as Daniel spoke up. __**"Tell him that both O'Neill and his creator are destroyed. See how he takes it."**_

_John sighed. "See how he takes it? How would you take it? He isn't going to like it, that's for sure. He knows about O'Neill. You just want me to tell him his creator has been destroyed as well?"_

_"What did you say, John Sheppard?"_

_Oops. Well the proverbial cat was out of the bag. Better to be direct._

_"Your creator, your Samantha Carter was destroyed a long time ago. She's gone."_

_Nothing. The Replicator showed no response in facial expressions or in movement. It was too eerie. Then an idea began to take root In John's head. John Sheppard, both human and Replicator was a military man. Military men followed orders. Those orders were to be carried out no matter what. The only way those orders could be overridden were if the person who gave the orders had been replaced and different orders were issued. This guy's commanding officer was gone. Time for new orders._

_"So, she's gone now. Your orders are to stand down. No need to carry out your mission."_

_John and Daniel held their breaths. Could it be that easy?_

_Of course not._

_The Replicator's face came alive once more. The slack features were replaced with anger and determination. John flinched once and then grimaced as the pain that had subsided came back in full force. He shouted at Daniel. "That didn't work! Get the hell out of here, Daniel."_

_**"I won't leave you to fight this alone. I still think we can get to his more human side!"**_

_"What do you suggest?" John gasped._

_Daniel was trying desperately to think of another angle. Based on what had just happened, this Replicator was a lot like John but his companionship had been with Jack O'Neill and Replicator Carter. They would have to play on his connection with them rather than just Sheppard's friends from Atlantis._

_**"Well for one, I'm not experiencing the pain like before. Maybe he doesn't want to hurt me because of his friendship with Jack. Let's remind him of your friends again. John, tell him that Ronon and Teyla are in danger. Talk about the siege on the planet. Ask him not to hurt them."**_

_Okay, John thought. Here goes nothing._

_"You remember Teyla and Ronon don't you? Well, your bugs are going to kill them down there on that planet. You're with them right now. How can you think about destroying the people you care about after the pain of losing O'Neill and your creator? Haven't you lost enough friends? "_

_"Where is your Samantha Carter? Is she on Atlantis, John?"_

_Daniel's eyebrows shot up. Could this Replicator be more like Fifth?_

_"And your Jack O'Neill? Is he on Atlantis? I have missed them both so much. Their companionship is important to me, John. If you tell me where Atlantis is, I promise to come alone. Do you hear me? I will not bring my brethren with me. I do not want to be alone anymore."_

_###################_

"Here they come again!" Ronon shouted as once again the bugs were advancing on them. This time, they were not stopping at the 500 yard mark. They kept coming. Major Lorne glanced up to see the human Replicator moving towards the closest puddle jumper. The ground troops, desperate to maintain their defensive orders began to back up from their positions as the replicators advanced.

"Screw this," Lorne mumbled to himself. He shouted, "Shoot to destroy! We cannot let them escape or gain access to the gate. Shoot to destroy!"

Lorne couldn't help but notice the looks of satisfaction on the Marines as they began to open fire in earnest at the replicators. The intensity of the battle grew as rapid fire indicated the pent up hostilities of the men. Ronon was bearing down on the Human Replicator. Knowing it was fruitless, Lorne was determined the Satedan would not die alone. He watched from his right, as Teyla Emmagan joined him as the three advanced on the Human Replicator.

Just as the battle was reaching a climax, the humans watched in disbelief as all the metal bugs froze once again and their advance stopped. The last P90 reports echoed off the rocks and ground as the once swarming replicators were silent. Then, in an instant, all the replicators evaporated into metal dust where they stood. The hairs on the back of Lorne's neck stood on end as he lifted his face to look at Replicator Sheppard.

###############

_John was stunned. The guy only wanted companionship. This was crazy. His thoughts were interrupted by Daniel._

_**"Ask him what he would do to prove he wouldn't bring the brethren with him?"**_

_"You're not serious, Jackson?"_

_"What is it Dr. Jackson asks, John?"_

_John paused. Surely Jackson wasn't contemplating letting this guy get to Atlantis was he? _

_"John?"_

_"He wants to you to prove what you said about not bringing your replicators with you to Atlantis."_

_"Okay." There was silence. After a few moments, Replicator Sheppard looked directly at John. A smile appeared. "I have destroyed my brethren. It is now just me. Let us go to Atlantis, I wish to join Samantha Carter and Jack O'Neill there."_

_"Now what, hotshot?" John asked out of the corner of his mouth._

_**"Lie to him. Tell him they are both dead."**_

_"What!" John stopped himself before he made any other comment. He couldn't question Daniel's logic without being overheard by the Replicator. This was just going to piss his alter ego off some more. What if he really had destroyed all his "brethren?" Telling him that there was no companionship available would just make him mad enough to send some more pain John's way._

_**"John. Trust me." It was Daniel again. "His strongest motivator seems to be emotions rather than a sense of duty. He's like you in some ways but not in others. We need to make his loneliness and need for companionship work for us and against him. Telling him that he is alone and will be forever may push him over the edge."**_

_What edge would that be, thought John. Jackson said to trust him. Easy for him to say. He wasn't the one dying here. At least he was beginning to understand why O'Neill thought he was a pain in the ass. Here goes nothing._

_"Well, you see. Uh, our Carter and O'Neill are dead too. They are not on Atlantis. They are actually, nowhere in this universe. They are dead. Destroyed." And then he added, "Sorry about that."_

_Replicator Sheppard stared at John. The brief smile that had appeared was gone, replaced with slack features. The eyes of the Replicator seemed to dim. John vaguely found himself thinking "the lights are not on and no one is at home." Then it hit him. The pain was lessening. He was feeling lightheaded. The edges of his vision were starting to gray._

_"Jackson!"_


	17. Chapter 17

Alarms were going off on the monitors for both patients. Lam and Keller were shouting orders at medical personnel.

"Get this thing off of him, now!" Lam shouted above the noise. O'Neill had already moved to Sheppard and gently removed the disk as Zelenka removed Daniel's. Sam tried desperately to get her breathing under control as she watched defibrillator paddles being prepared and heard the whine of two sets of voltages climbing. She glanced at Rodney and moved quickly to grab him as his knees began to buckle. Moving him away from the bed she heard him mumble, "Please, not Sheppard too."

################

"Now what?" Ronon grumbled. He stared at the Human Replicator who was frozen in place. Ronon stood from their hiding place and Teyla tried to pull him back down. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement and watched as Major Lorne stood as well. Both men pointed their weapons at the Replicator.

Finding her voice, Teyla said, "Remember, we were told that this Replicator cannot be destroyed with our weapons."

Lorne reached down and offered her a hand up. "Yeah, I know. But we have to contact Atlantis to find out what the hell just happened. We've got to move him away from the gate. I don't want to give him an open invitation to go through it." Both Lorne and Teyla flinched as they heard the snap and click of several weapons being readied by the Marines behind them. Teyla's heart stopped as she saw Replicator Sheppard begin to walk towards herself, Ronon and Lorne. The animalistic growl she heard was coming from Ronon as she watched the muscles on his jaw undulate. She put a hand on his arm, hoping to calm him.

"Don't shoot," Lorne quietly commanded.

Another growl from Ronon and Teyla held her breath, not expecting her friend to obey that order. But he did. And they watched as the Replicator came closer, stopping just five feet away. His features were slack and his eyes were vacant as he turned his head to look at the three humans in front of him. The Replicator's stare stopped on Ronon. Just as the hairs on Teyla's arm began to rise, she watched in confusion as the Replicator's face took on a more natural appearance. A smile appeared and then the eyes showed depth and recognition.

"How ya doin', Chewie?"

####################

"Wait!"

O'Neill had grabbed Zelenka and the two of them had moved back to join Carter and McKay, out of the way of the medical teams. The four of them looked towards Sheppard's bed where Keller was holding up her hand as she bent over to look at Sheppard's heart monitor.

Then they heard Lam's voice. "Hold on." She too was intent upon the monitors on Daniel.

"Is it over?" The voice was so quiet and raspy they almost missed it. McKay moved quickly to Sheppard's bed. "John?"

"Carolyn? Is Sheppard okay?" It was a now fully awake Daniel Jackson that was speaking.

After what seemed like minutes but in reality was only seconds, the med teams began moving again. Both doctors leaned over their fully awake patients asking things like, "How do you feel? Are you still in pain?"

Even though he was still pale and appeared confused, John Sheppard was awake and fairly coherent. The crash cart was pushed away as Jennifer began a full exam. On the other side of the room, Carolyn was replacing the defibrillator paddles with her stethoscope and attempting to keep Daniel from bolting from his bed.

"Doctors?" Jack asked.

Keller looked up long enough to say that John's vitals were stabilizing. Lam just gave O'Neill a quick nod. Daniel threw a little wave and a smile their way, settling back to try and be a good patient.

Radek rushed over to Rodney to give him a slap on the back and the two scientists started congratulating each other. Jack turned to give Sam a hug only to realize she had disappeared. He hurried out the infirmary door, following her to gate room.

########

Ronon looked at the Replicator before him. What the hell was going on? How does it know Sheppard's nickname for me?

"This is freaking me out. Why can't I just shoot it?"

Teyla's hand gripped her friend's arm harder. "I am also not comfortable with this turn of events but at the present time, he does not appear to be threatening us."

It was Lorne's turn to grumble. "It's a Replicator, Teyla. That means the thing is always a threat."

"Please," Teyla said, "let me try talking with him." Ronon and Lorne tensed as Teyla moved slowly towards the Replicator. Lorne's trigger finger itched as he watched the Replicator turn from Ronon towards Teyla. The smile on Replicator Sheppard's face broadened as Teyla approached.

"Teyla! How about a head bump for an old friend?"

Both men reacted. "Don't do it, Teyla!" Lorne gritted out. "Don't let him touch you!" Ronon growled.

Teyla found herself trembling and felt the blood drain from her face. Lorne was right. This was a Human Replicator standing before her. But it was so much like John. The crooked smile, the color of John's eyes, the voice, his posture. And he wanted a traditional Athosian greeting. They had to get him away from the gate, she told herself. In order to do that, didn't they need to establish trust? If this new approach that the Replicator had initiated could be worked to their advantage, shouldn't they take it?

Teyla motioned with her hand for Lorne, Ronon and the rest of the troops to stand down. In a whisper intended for her two companions she said, "Let me try this. I know you will have my back." She smiled, remembering she had learned that turn of phrase from the real John Sheppard.

Ignoring the grunt from Lorne and the low menacing growl from Ronon, Teyla slowly closed the gap between herself and the Replicator. She watched for a change in those eyes and the smile but seeing none, she reached out her hands, placing them on its shoulders, and leaned her head in. The goose bumps on her arms multiplied as Replicator Sheppard mirrored her actions. Teyla trembled when her forehead met his.

After a few seconds, Teyla raised her head and found herself looking into the eyes of the Replicator. He was looking into hers and for a moment, she forgot this was an imposter in front of her. The days of worrying about her friend as he lay in a pain ridden coma, attempted to evaporate as she saw the replica of Sheppard standing before her. Then, reality came as quickly as it had tried to leave and she started to remove her hands from its shoulders. But as her hands left, his hands quickly reached up and grabbed her wrists. Teyla saw a flash of anger in the eyes.

"Tell me the truth, Teyla. I don't like to be lied to. Are General O'Neill and Colonel Samantha Carter alive on Atlantis? Or are they dead?"

##############

Sam quickly made her way to the gate operations. O'Neill, with his longer strides, caught up to her as she stood beside Sgt. Campbell.

"Any more word from the planet?" she asked.

"No ma'am."

Sam hesitated. If Daniel and Sheppard had been released by the Replicator, all of its attention was now focused on the ground troops. If she opened the gate to reestablish communication, she might be risking the invasion of Atlantis. But if she didn't, she was likely signing off on the deaths of the Atlantean teams.

"Open the gate, Sam." Jack was standing over her shoulder and had given the quiet directive. He had seen her hesitation and knew exactly what she had been thinking. He would like to forget the number of times he had found himself in her position. The number of times that a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" decision had to be made. These were what he called "go with your gut" decisions.

Sam reached down, grabbed O'Neill's hand and gave a quick squeeze before letting go. She leaned over Campbell's shoulder giving orders for Marines to be called to the gate room. Once they were assembled the gate was to be opened to the planet. She then opened the com so she could make an announcement to the entire base, putting everyone on alert to a possible invasion.

As they waited for the troops to assemble and all emergency precautions to be established, McKay and Zelenka came rushing into operations.

"Sam, it's just him now."

"What are you talking about, Rodney?

Rodney cleared his throat while he and Radek both placed their laptops down. "He destroyed all the bugs. All the little guys, relatively speaking, are gone. They're dust."

Jack looked for confirmation from Zelenka who nodded vehemently. "It's true." He pointed towards the screen full of the Ancient transcript of what had happened with Daniel, John and the Replicator through the T.A.C.i.T.

"You're sure?" Sam questioned.

"Yes! Positive." Rodney restated.

Sam turned to Jack with raised eyebrows. Then she looked back at Rodney and asked the obvious question. "Why would the Human Replicator do that?"

Radek jumped in. "Well, basically because our Sheppard asked him to prove that he wouldn't invade Atlantis with them."

The two scientists then rapidly translated the dialogue that took place before Jackson and Sheppard's miraculous awakening in the infirmary. O'Neill and Carter didn't interrupt, all the while trying to keep up with the story laid out by McKay and Zelenka. Finally, the scientists stopped and looked in anticipation at the officers.

It was Jack's turn to clear his throat. "Not to ask the obvious here, and I know I had trouble keeping up with you two just now, but I'm just a little confused. The Replicator destroyed his brethren, right?" Both scientists nodded in the affirmative.

"Okay, but he's still a Replicator, right?"

Again, nods in agreement.

Jack stuck his hands in his pockets, glanced at Sam and asked the next obvious question.

"What's to stop him from making more of the little buggers?"

Rodney blanched and Radek muttered an "Oh, dear."

The conversation was interrupted by Sgt. Campbell. "Colonel Carter? The troops are assembled and awaiting your next command."

Sam glanced at Jack as he moved next to her. Their attention turned to the gateroom. As she felt his reassuring hand on her shoulder, Sam braced herself for the unknown.

"Open the gate."

_I know, I know. Another cliffhanger and this chapter is short. But I'm almost done. Please, R & R!_


	18. Chapter 18

"I'm going too."

All heads in operations turned to look at Colonel John Sheppard. He was trying desperately to shake off Dr. Keller while pulling on a BDU jacket and tucking in a t-shirt to a hastily donned pair of uniform pants. Daniel and Dr. Lam were close behind. Sam took in John's appearance as he approached her. It was no wonder the doctor was trying to intervene. John attempted a military stance in front of his C.O. but his depleted body was betraying him. Carter could see his hands trembling and the light sheen of sweat that coated his face. He was extremely pale, making the dark circles under his eyes and the three day old stubble on his cheeks and chin stand out.

Jennifer moved to stand directly in front of Sheppard and looked him straight in the eye. "You have been near death for over 72 hours. Hell, we've revived you from death, I don't know how many times. Look at you! You can barely stand up by yourself. If you think I can possibly consider letting you out of my sight, you are sadly mistaken."

John tried to ignore Keller. While he respected her deeply, he was determined to play his part in ending this nightmare they were in. He lowered his voice and met Keller's gaze. "Doctor. I need to do this. I promise you, I will report directly to the infirmary when I return." And then he added, as he gently placed his hands on her shoulders, "Jennifer… please?"

Seeing his determination and knowing he would disobey any doctor's orders she attempted at this point, Jennifer sighed and stepped back, allowing Sheppard's gaze to once again fall on Colonel Carter. Carter met his stare and tried to disassociate the ill man from the military officer.

"Why do you feel you need to go?" she asked.

"Because, I think somewhere in all this, someone said I'm the kryptonite for this guy."

Sam chanced a glance towards Rodney and Radek who both shrugged their shoulders. Daniel coughed and said, "I think I may have mentioned that when we were…" He stopped when a wave from Sam indicated it was okay. She turned away from everyone and looked out towards the gate, trying to quickly gather her thoughts. Daniel pushed his way forward and stood between her and Sheppard.

"Sam, we told the Replicator that you and Jack were dead. We were trying to convince him that his mission, his purpose for being created was null and void. It may have backfired on us."

It was Jack's turn to speak. "So what the hell does this guy want? He destroyed all of his little friends. Granted, he can make new ones. Does he still want to come to Atlantis?"

"Chances are, yes," Daniel said. "He's lonely and lost. He doesn't know where to go without Replicator Carter and Replicator O'Neill. He's lost his purpose, his mission. We were trying to get him to understand himself as John would, play on his weaknesses. You know, kind of a perverse psychology." He tugged his glasses off and rubbed his eyes. "I guess it didn't work."

"So, our best guess is he's going to do his best to come here," Sam stated.

"We can't let that happen," John said. He looked out at the waiting Marines and asked who was on the planet. After getting a quick rundown of the situation on the planet, he sighed, running his hand through his unruly hair. "Let me go and face this guy." He thought about all the times that Teyla and Ronon had saved his butt. Let alone Major Lorne and the Marines. He wasn't trying to be a martyr. He owed them.

"What makes you think psycho babble is going to be enough to take this guy out?" Jack asked quietly. He focused on Sam. "You need a backup plan."

"What do you suggest, General," Sam asked. "We know none of our weapons are effective at destroying it."

Jack grimaced. "Can't we blow this Superman up?"

Daniel wanted to make a smart remark about "blowing something up" being Jack's answer to every unsolvable problem but her resisted. He got the odd feeling from the look on Jack's face however, that Jack knew what he was thinking.

Sam shrugged her shoulders. "I guess that's as good a backup plan as any. Sgt. Campbell, have some C4 brought up from the armory." And then she added, " Stand down the Marines."

"Carter?" Jack asked.

"We're going to try the psycho babble and a backup plan. If we go in with another large contingent of soldiers, things could escalate again. But, I'm also not willing to allow Colonel Sheppard, who obviously is still in need of medical attention to go by himself, not knowing what the ground troops are facing." Sam caught the quick look of relief from Dr. Keller and gave her a reassuring nod.

Guessing where Sam's train of thinking was going, Daniel said, "Uh, Sam? We told the Replicator that you and Jack were dead. If you and Jack are planning on going to the planet…?" He trailed off, not sure what point he wanted to make.

"Well, that little lie didn't make much difference it seems," John mumbled. "What do ya say we shake him up a bit?" Watching the reactions from his friends and colleagues, he added, "What have we got to lose?"

Jack broke the silence by standing up and clapping his hands together. "Let's go psych this guy out. And, when that doesn't work, we can blow him the hell away with some C4. It'll be like destroying one of Anubis' super soldiers again. Do we know how to have fun or what?"

Daniel and Sam both looked at O'Neill with their mouths dropping open. Then they both looked at each other. "Ya think?" Daniel asked. "Maybe," Carter said. "Do you have one of those?" asked Daniel. "I'll check." Sam leaned over a computer pulling up one of the databases.

Sheppard quirked an eyebrow at the General. Out of the corner of his mouth he asked, "Do you know what they're talking about?"

Jack shook his head and heaved an overdramatic sigh. "They do that sometimes. I say something significant which I don't have a clue what I said, and they do this kind of telepathic twin speak where they know what each of them are thinking and wah-la! They come up with a plan and the next thing you know, all our problems are solved, yet again!"

"Got it!" Sam contacted the armory herself and requested the weapon be brought to the gate room. She then turned back to her audience. "General, Colonel, we need to get suited up. We'll leave as soon as you're ready."

Two voices spoke simultaneously. "I'm going too." The three officers looked at Jackson and McKay. Not wanting to deal with another argument and thinking five might present better odds than three, Sam simply nodded and the four men left to get their equipment. Sam moved to join them, but stopped as Dr. Keller placed a hand on her shoulder. Before Jennifer could say anything, Sam beat her to the punch. "Jennifer, I promise. On our return, you and Dr. Lam will examine the entire team and everyone will follow your medical orders."

"All personnel? Including you, ma'am?"

Sam offered a thin smile. "All personnel and all of your orders."

"Thank you, Colonel. And good luck."

#################

Lorne and Ronon looked on in horror as the Human Replicator forced Teyla to her knees and then proceeded to place his hand into her forehead. As she groaned in pain, Ronon lurched forward only to have Lorne grab him. "He could kill her, Ronon."

"Not if I kill him first!" As Ronon shook Lorne off, the two watched as the Replicator, still with his arm somewhere inside Teyla's skull, leaned over and picked up a fistful of the metal dust that covered the ground at their feet. Glaring at the two men, the fingers in his hand began to move in a rotating motion. It vaguely reminded Lorne of someone working a round of Play-doh into a ball. Within seconds, the easily recognizable sound of a replicator bug came from the hand of its creator. The fist opened as the bug dropped to the ground and stood frozen in place. Before Lorne could stop him, Ronon shifted his weapon around and blasted the bug back into dust.

Replicator Sheppard was enraged. As he pulled his hand out of Teyla, she collapsed to the ground, shaking with pain. Lorne grabbed her and carried her back away from the menace. In the moments it took Lorne to ask her if she was alright, Replicator Sheppard had made two more bugs that were sent into motion. As they crawled over the ground, other bugs began to form from the dredges of metal dust. Lorne shouted orders to the Marines to commence firing, hoping to keep the creation of more replicators down to a minimum. As he turned back, the Major watched with horror as the Human Replicator's hand morphed into a deadly knife-like spear. Then without warning, the Human Replicator lunged with the arm out before him towards Ronon's chest.

"Ronon, watch out!" It was a waste of breath as Ronon had not missed the transformation and jumped back as the spear was thrust towards him. Lorne took a protective stance over the still recovering Teyla, berating himself for not knowing how to help Ronon and prevent him from being killed.

The Replicator screamed as he moved towards Ronon. "They lied to me! Your O'Neill and Carter are alive! I will destroy all of you and then my brethren and I will go to Atlantis and exact our revenge!"

Deep down Ronon knew his weapon would have no effect on the Replicator, but it felt so good to start unloading every bullet into the machine before him. All the rage over the people who were killed and hurt by this menace found some morbid relief as he fired the useless ammo.

Lorne helped Teyla to stand as they joined the Marines in taking out the replicator bugs as fast as they were created. But the Human Replicator moved closer to the Satedan. Out of the corner of his eye, Lorne was sure the moment Ronon stopped retreating, he would witness that horrendous knife being thrust into his friend's body and there would be no hope of his survival. "_Keep moving, Ronon_," he prayed.

The assault was in such full force that the Atlanteans were oblivious to the gate activation. But Replicator Sheppard was not. He and his creations turned at the sound and then froze to watch the wash of the horizon form. Lorne held up a fist to signal a ceasefire. In the tension laden quiet, both humans and Replicator watched as the five new arrivals came through the gate.


	19. Chapter 19

"Steady," Daniel said, reaching out to Sheppard. "Are you okay," Rodney asked from John's other side, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. The ride through the wormhole had left John weak and dizzy. As he fought off the nausea, Carter and O'Neill took point, surveying the scene in front of them. The quiet was too eerie. O'Neill raised the energy weapon, pointing it at Replicator Sheppard. Sam placed a hand on his wrist and said, "Wait, sir."

"Why?" he drawled.

"Well, for one thing. It's standing a little too close to Ronon. If that weapon doesn't work on it, I don't want to lose Ronon in the process."

Before anything else could be said, the Human Replicator made the first move. He smiled.

"Jack O'Neill! Sam Carter! You came!"

"Excuse me, ma'am. General." Colonel Sheppard brushed past his superior officers and began a slow but steady walk towards his look alike. As he came closer, the humans watched as the knife/spear transformed back into a normal looking arm. Teyla and Lorne took the opportunity to regroup with Ronon with the Marines close behind.

"Showtime," Jack said under his breath. He led the way as he, Carter, Jackson and McKay lined up behind Sheppard. "Now can I shoot it?" Sam shook her head. She knew Jack was just trying to lighten the mood and at the same time, she was assured that he would not act until the time was right. Not knowing if the modified T.E.R. would have any effect on the Replicator, caution and patience was their best strategy.

John cleared his throat. "Hey there." He watched as the Replicator's gaze moved from Carter and O'Neill to fall on him. John wasn't sure if it was his body betraying him or the eeriness of looking at his double face-to-face that sent shivers down his spine. It was probably both. _"Let's get this over with,"_ he thought. "What do ya say, we call an end to this party?"

"You have come to destroy me, John Sheppard."

"Yep. You've left us no choice."

The Human Replicator cocked his head and again shifted his gaze towards Carter and O'Neill. "I cannot let you destroy us. Our purpose is to reproduce and consume. I intend to continue with that purpose. I only ask for the company of Colonel Carter and General O'Neill."

Jack took that as his cue to move up next to Sheppard. "Well, what makes you think I like _your _company, dirt bag?"

"You're forgetting one thing," John continued. "This is not your creator Sam Carter and this is not the O'Neill that was created to be your companion."

Anger was slowly returning to the face of Replicator Sheppard. Everyone tensed as the bugs that had been silent, shifted. The metallic sounds seemed to echo in the stillness and then stopped. They were connected directly to the emotions of their creator, waiting to respond in an instant to do his bidding.

"You don't have a mission anymore," John continued as he moved closer to the Replicator. "Your creator is dust as well as your comrade, O'Neill. And we will not allow you and your little critters here to leave this planet to go to Atlantis or anywhere else in this galaxy for that matter."

The Replicator's face at once showed both anger and confusion. As his arm began to morph again into the bright steel knife, everyone took a step back. Replicator Sheppard did a slow 360 as if daring the humans to make a move. He lifted his normal hand, holding it parallel with the ground. The bugs en masse shivered and then began to multiply at a rate faster than anyone could believe possible. Lorne and his team moved to take cover on the small rise behind them while Carter and the others positioned themselves nearer the gate. As the bugs divided into two assault lines, the report of P90's began as the Atlanteans shot to destroy the replicators. Sheppard stayed his ground, ignoring McKay's cries to him to get back.

"Carter! Now?" O'Neill shouted.

"Now, sir!"

O'Neill stood and moved up towards Sheppard. "I don't know if this is gonna work, Sheppard. You'd better get back there with the others." Getting no response, O'Neill pushed Sheppard out of the way shouting, "Here goes nothing!" He raised the energy weapon and fired, hitting Replicator Sheppard square in the chest. The Replicator turned and stared at his attacker.

"Oh for crying out loud," O'Neill mumbled. He glanced at Sheppard who seemed to be in some kind of stupor. "Where's good kryptonite when you need it?"

"Shoot him again, sir," John said, forcing himself to get his head back in the game.

O'Neill took aim and fired the weapon, again hitting Replicator Sheppard full in the front. The Replicator stumbled without losing his footing and then began moving to O'Neill. Jack was reliving his first encounter with an Anubis super soldier. "Damn, I hate freaking alien machines that refuse to die!" He raised the weapon again, managing two shots; one to the chest and one to the head. Again, the Replicator stumbled, shook his head but continued moving towards them.

"It's not working!" O'Neill shouted over his shoulder. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw, Sheppard, Carter, Jackson and McKay begin unloading their weapons directly at the Replicator.

"Shoot him again, sir," Carter shouted over the gunfire.

In the meantime, Major Lorne and his team continued their assault on the ever multiplying replicator bugs. As O'Neill continued their assault on the Human Replicator, the bugs continued to move closer to the others, intent on nothing else but destroying those who were attempting to destroy them.

Ronon found himself resisting the urge to join the assault on the Human Replicator as his eyes kept darting over to Sheppard and the others. He was relieved that Sheppard was no longer near death back in the infirmary but his protective instincts were telling him that his friend wasn't safe yet. Sheppard looked like death warmed over. As Ronon glanced at Teyla, he nodded, letting her know he would stay where he was.

As the energy weapon fired again, Replicator Sheppard stumbled and lost his footing. Carter held up a fist and the others stopped shooting. O'Neill shot one more time and the Replicator went down on his knees.

"Something is happening to them!" Teyla cried. She and the others realized that the bugs were slowing down in their movement. The replication had stopped altogether and the replicator numbers were dwindling as the P90s continued to make their marks.

Suddenly, over the sound of the gunfire there was an unearthly wail that filled the air. It came from the Human Replicator.

"Stop! Please, stop!" Replicator Sheppard held his hands up in surrender. As the shooting died, the few remaining replicator bugs melted into dust once again. All that could be heard was the ragged breathing from the troops and the sound of a man's weeping. The humans looked at the Replicator as its shoulders shook with sobs.

"Oh dear God," Rodney whispered, breaking the silence. Daniel followed Rodney's pointing finger and looked closer at the Replicator as it slowly fell prone to the ground. He vaguely heard Sam's echo of "Oh god," and Jack's epithet but was oddly mesmerized at the scene in front of him.

Gone was the knife spear. Gone was the anger in the facial features. The arm was back to normal and something green was flowing from various points on the Replicator's body. Had the color been red, Daniel would have thought it was blood. But it was the look on the Replicator's face that Daniel struggled to look at. Raw emotion was there. A deep sadness and a look of utter hopelessness had replaced the anger. Sheppard moved forward and knelt next to the Replicator.

"John Sheppard," it whispered.

"Aggghh!" John was grabbing his head in pain as he doubled over. Rodney grabbed him around the waist and helped him to a sitting position. Replicator Sheppard was staring at John.

"Let him go!" Jack yelled. He raised the weapon again but was stopped by John's hand. "Wait," he said in a strangled whispered.

"_I have never known this kind of pain, John."_

_ "I'm sorry but you gave us no choice. We have to destroy you before you destroy us."_

_ The Replicator spoke again. "Not physical pain, John. The pain of being alone. I realize now that I didn't understand loneliness until I met you and your friends. They are all fighting for Atlantis but they are also fighting for you." He paused. "I am alone. I was created for one purpose. That purpose is overshadowed by how I ….feel." That last statement came out like a question. John had no response. Then the Replicator sighed._

_ "Your friends have proven one thing. You will never know that kind of pain. I envy you John Sheppard."_

_ Just when John thought he couldn't take much more, the pain started to dissipate. He heard the voice in his head again. "You were right. I have no purpose. Good bye John Sheppard."_

"John! Can you hear me?"

"Ugh. Yeah, Rodney. I hear ya."

John opened his eyes to see everyone staring at him, including the Replicator. As he was helped to his feet, he watched as Replicator Sheppard's eyes closed. The Replicator's body began to tremble. The green substance overflowed from every pore and cell. And then it seemed to dry into a shimmering sheet of metal. The body shook once more and in moments, it disintegrated. The body of Replicator Sheppard was gone and only metal dust remained. The stunned humans looked on as a gentle breeze began to blow the dust along the ground. Teyla, Ronon and Lorne moved to join the others.

After a moment, Teyla reached out to embrace John. She stepped back and with a gentle hold on both of his shoulders, bent her head to his forehead. The spell was broken and soon everyone was talking. Ronon, unceremoniously, broke through Teyla's grasp on John and pulled him into a bear hug. "Careful, Chewie," he groaned but threw Ronon a grin. He turned and reached out to shake Lorne's outstretched hand. "Good to see you back on your feet, sir."

"Can we go home now?" Rodney whined. Jack took that as his cue to throw an arm around McKay's shoulder, ushering him towards the gate and beginning a "did I ever tell you about the time" tale. The rest of the team started gathering weapons and equipment for the move back to Atlantis.

Carter took the time to thank the Marines as they walked past. She then turned to see both Daniel and John standing over the spot which had held the prone Replicator.

"Daniel?" Carter rested a hand on Daniel's arm as he stared at the place where the Human Replicator had been. "Are you okay?"

"Hmm. Oh, yeah, I'm fine." His brow was creased with deep thought. Sam waited. He finally looked up at her and smiled.

"You know me. I'm just trying to get my mind around what just happened here."

Sam had a vague idea what Daniel was thinking. They had just witnessed the "suicide" of a machine that was supposed to be without any characteristics that would qualify it as human, other than physical. And yet, this particular Replicator had demonstrated emotions. It had demonstrated critical thinking when it discovered that its purpose for existence was gone. The logical thing to do had been to self-destruct.

Sam sighed and wrapped Daniel's arm around her own. "Tell you what. Let's head back to Atlantis, get checked out by Dr. Keller, like I promised, have something to eat and then sleep for say, about three days. Then we can talk about this over a nice cup of coffee, before you have to head back to the SGC."

Daniel shook himself out of his reverie and looked at his friend. The weariness of the last few days threatened at that moment to take over. He stared once more at the metallic dust as it shifted in the grass and the wind. The dust was the only evidence that a machine had existed just a few minutes earlier. With a sigh, he patted Sam's hand and turned to join the others at the gate.

Sam turned her attention to Sheppard. He was staring at the dust covered ground, which was now sparkling in the light of the sun. "It's over John."

Sam took a step back when John lifted his eyes to meet hers. There were tears threatening to spill down his face. Both hands came up and he dug fists into his eyes rubbing away the wetness. Sam placed a hand on his shoulder. She needed to get him back to Dr. Keller before he collapsed from the physical and emotional stress.

John finally found his voice. "He's right you know. To be alone, utterly alone must be the worst kind of hell." He looked at Carter's worried face and managed a lop-sided grin. Placing his hand on top of hers, he said, "Let's go home, Colonel."


	20. Chapter 20

"As soon as this IV is done, I want you to go straight to your quarters, Colonel. And no setting the alarm clock." Sam decided she was getting off easy with Keller and tried not to sigh as she lay down on the infirmary bed. She heard Jennifer say, "You'll feel a stick," and then flushed with embarrassment as her stomach growled. She looked at Jennifer who smiled, taping the IV in place. "I'm having food brought in for everyone. You can eat while the saline does its trick."

Jennifer moved on to the next bed where a fidgety McKay fussed about all the fuss that was being made. Sam stifled a giggle knowing that Rodney enjoyed getting a little pampering now and then and his whininess was merely an attempt to hide his joy at being the center of Dr. Keller's attention.

"Dinner is served," Jack said, setting a tray of sandwiches down on a table in the center of the room. Sam watched as several of the Marines and Ronon launched themselves at the tray. Before they could touch any of the sandwiches, Jack's hands reached out playfully smacking them away. "Leave that turkey on wheat for Carter! I happen to know that's her favorite." Grabbing the sandwich, O'Neill retreated letting the men have at it as they patiently waited for their turn to be examined.

"How do you get out of fluids and bed rest, sir?" Sam asked as she took the proffered sandwich.

"Oh, I'm sure Dr. Lam will get to me soon. I just offered to go last." He pulled up a chair and sat next to Carter's bed thankful that she was finally obeying doctor's orders.

Sam bit into her sandwich and looked around the infirmary. Some of the team members were heading off to their quarters as they were examined and released by the medical personnel. As the crowd began to disperse, she found Daniel across the room just as Dr. Lam stuck a needle in his arm. Following Sam's gaze, Jack said, "It seems Daniel's hay fever is acting up from something on that planet. He'll be spending the night here, from what I gather." As if on cue, Daniel sneezed and was pushed back into bed by Carolyn. She and Jack shared a smile over Carolyn's bedside manner.

Placing her half eaten sandwich down on the bed tray, Sam's eyes continued searching. There was Teyla and Major Lorne. It appeared they were given an all clear by Valerie as they made their way to the door. They stopped at the foot of Carter's bed.

"You are all right, Colonel Carter?" Teyla asked.

Sam smiled. "Yes, just a little dehydrated. You both checked out?"

Major Lorne answered. "We've been ordered to take two ibuprofen, drink lots of water, and get lots of sleep."

"Sleep well, then." They left, acknowledging the General as they passed.

Sam started her scan of the infirmary once again. "Carter." Jack spoke her name so quietly she almost missed it. She turned back to him. "He's not here."

Immediately alerted, Sam sat straight up. "What? Where is he? He should be in here getting the medical attention he needs." She stopped as Jack raised a hand.

"Whoa, slow down. It's under control. Sort of."

"Is everything okay, Colonel Carter?" Jennifer had caught Sam's sudden movements out of the corner of her eye and moved back, checking the progress of the IV.

"Where is Colonel Sheppard, Dr. Keller?"

Jennifer shot an accusing look at the General who held up both hands this time. "She hasn't given me a chance to explain."

"Dr. Keller?"

"John refused to come into the infirmary. He said he had to go for a walk. Since you made good on your promise by having the entire away team check in with us, I had my hands full and couldn't get him to change his mind. He took off. I will corner him or get a security team to bring him back here when things settle down."

Sam was worried. John had all but collapsed when they had returned from the planet. She had managed to get him to sit while she ordered everyone else to the infirmary. Stopping at Operations to check in with Campbell and collect her comlink, Sam had assumed that John had gone to the infirmary with the others.

"Not to be a mother hen, but is someone with him?"

"Teyla offered to go find him just now." Jennifer gently removed the IV catheter from Sam's arm, placing a bandage on the insertion spot. "Now, Colonel, you are released to return to your quarters." Sam sat up quickly, throwing her legs over the side of the bed. As she stood up, a wave of dizziness hit her and O'Neill reached out to steady her.

"Take it slow, Colonel," Keller offered. "No sleep for three days will make anyone a little off kilter."

Jack wiggled his eyebrows. "Is that professional medical terminology, Doctor?"

Jennifer's eyes twinkled back at the General. "You be careful, General, or I'll sick Dr. Lam on you."

Jack's eyebrows arched as he looked over to where Dr. Lam was indeed on her way over after settling Daniel in for the night. He took hold of Sam's arm and said, "I'll make sure Carter gets to her quarters, Doc."

As they exited the infirmary, Sam started to make a right turn. Jack grabbed her elbow. "I know I haven't been here that many times before, but I believe your bed lies in the opposite direction."

"I just need to check on John, sir."

Jack stepped behind Sam, placed both of his hands on both of her shoulders and steered her to the left. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "You've got good people here. He's being looked after." He straightened and without removing his hands, he waited until he felt the resistance leave Sam's body. Maybe leaving this in Teyla's hands was the best thing for herself and John, Sam thought. Besides, she knew Jennifer would follow through on her threat with the security detail if Teyla was unsuccessful in getting John to the infirmary.

Sam touched her comlink. "Teyla, I'll be in my quarters. Let me know when you have something to report." She sighed as Teyla responded with an affirmative.

"Besides, Carter," O'Neill's whisper came again and she felt his breath on her neck. "I thought I promised you that when this was all over, I would get you into bed." Suddenly doctor's orders didn't sound so bad after all.

#################

"I thought I might find you here."

John was out on his favorite deck, facing the western sky as the sun was just beginning to set. He was gripping the rail, looking as if he might let the increasing wind pick him up and blow him away. As Teyla approached she noted John's arms were trembling and she gently placed her left arm around his waist. Looking at his profile, she knew why Colonel Carter had been so concerned for him. The physical trauma he had gone through had wiped all color from his skin and the sunken eyes were bloodshot. She could feel the tremors coursing through his body and began to wonder if she should summon a medical team. She decided to hold off, hoping to get him to open up.

"How may I help you, John Sheppard?" she asked softly. John didn't look at her or answer. His eyes looked out over the water and watched as the sky turned its shades of pink and purple as the sun started its slow descent into the horizon. Teyla waited and watched as his breathing began to even out and the trembling seemed to lessen. He seemed to be drawing strength just from her presence.

John started to speak but found he had no voice. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I guess I just needed… I wanted…I…uh…"

"To be alone?"

"God, no," he started. He reached up to run his hand through his hair. He avoided Teyla's gaze. "Yeah, I guess." John cleared his throat again, trying to get the hoarseness to go away. "I spent three days with that guy in my head. Playing mind games on me. The pain was beyond anything I had ever experienced before and I just wanted it to end. All I wanted to do was give up. I just wanted him to leave me alone."

"We nearly lost you, several times," said Teyla. John reached up and rubbed his chest. That must be why it hurt so bad. Keller had said something about the crash cart being a tad overused. "My people believe that when we are near death," Teyla continued, "we have a choice to make. We can 'give up' or we can fight our way back. Did you choose, John?"

"I think I did choose, Teyla." John turned and faced Teyla. "I chose to give up. But then Daniel showed up. Of all people, I didn't expect Jackson to come waltzing into my head." He forced a chuckle. "Don't get me wrong. I was kind of relieved it was him and not Rodney." John stopped and looked back over the water again, then glanced up as the first three stars of the evening began to glimmer.

"Daniel was there and I wasn't alone. He had my back. I got out of my self- pity party and realized he wasn't the only one. You were all here watching my back. I couldn't just quit." The corner of his mouth went up in a crooked grin. "I couldn't let the team down."

Teyla watched as a slow transformation took place. She caught a brief glimpse of the John Sheppard she knew beginning to return. His eyes were starting a slow sparkle of life. His face began to show a hint of the familiar strength and determination she had grown to respect and cherish. The healing process was beginning.

"I think that your body will heal more quickly than your heart, my friend," Teyla offered. John's eyes shot downward. He marveled at how Teyla always saw through him no matter how hard he tried to hide his feelings. Hell, she had just gotten him to blabber away about an experience he just wanted to forget had ever happened.

Teyla interrupted his thoughts. "Speaking of the team, I know two doctors who have earned a well deserved rest. But that cannot happen as long as you are AWOL, John." She placed a comforting hand on his right arm. "May I escort you to the infirmary?"

John nodded and then said, "I think you better, before I fall on my ass."

Pushing himself away from the railing, John was grateful for Teyla's presence as well as her supporting arm. He allowed her to steer him back into the interior hallway and towards the infirmary. Both Keller and Lam met them at the door. Teyla excused herself and Sheppard was tucked into the nearest bed where monitors and IV's awaited his safe arrival. As he started to drift off, John was oblivious to the needle sticks and cold stethoscopes as he felt himself melting into the comfort of the warm bed and soft pillow. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, as his body succumbed to the sedative and to painless sleep, he heard the echo of a voice, now lost in eternity.

_"I envy you, John Sheppard."_

_###################_

_Thanks to all of you for your words of encouragement and for reading this story. I hope you enjoyed it._


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